River has won and stays at the top El Millionario beat Arsenal 2-1, in Avellaneda, thanks to goals by Nacho Fernández and Matías Suárez. Thus, it’s still the leader of its group in the Diego Maradona Cup.

  • Share

River took control of the match in the first minutes. In the first play, Nicolás De La Cruz tried a shot from afar and then it was Enzo Pérez’s turn. Maximiliano Gagliardo bounced the ball and Rafael Borré couldn’t catch it comfortably. At the second opportunity, the Colombian forward made a good play and passed the ball to Bruno Zuculini, who fired a high shot.

In another free kick, De La Cruz made it difficult for the rival goalkeeper at the first goalpost. Gonzalo Montiel, constantly going up on the right, had two very clear opportunities in some good collective plays orchestrated by el Más Grande.

El Millionario went all out in the second half, sweeping away Arsenal and creating many goal situations, before and after the first goal. Borré fired a tremendous volley that the goalkeeper managed to brush with his fingers, and the ball hit the crossbar. Then, the away team responded with a deflected header by Lucas Albertengo. And there was more from River: two attempts by Nacho Fernández (he had replaced Zuculini), one shot went high and the other hit the rival’s left goalpost.

Finally, the first goal came after a backward pass from Montiel, a shot from Matías Suárez that Borré wasn’t able to catch. The goalkeeper blocked the shot near the ground and the rebound was caught by Nacho, who set the score at 1-0. Then, River was close to widening the lead with two shots by De La Cruz and Carrascal, but Gagliardo responded well.

After quickly coming off its box, Gallardo’s team scored the second goal: a great long pass from Nacho that Suárez controlled and handled with finesse, scoring right above the goalkeeper. Player no. 7 almost scored the third one after a spectacular header, but Arsenal’s goalkeeper responded well. In the last part, River lost Milton Casco due to an injury and the away team was quick to reduce the deficit, with a goal by Jhonatan Candia.

With this victory, River leads the group with Boca Juniors and waits for the end of the match day. In fact, River will play its next match against Boca Juniors, on Saturday, as the away team.

Photo gallery