10′ into the first half, Salomón Rondón let off steam. He came to River to be the scoring figure and, up until the tenth round, he hadn’t even been given a celebration. Before Hurricane, and from the spot, that long-awaited cry came – which, officially, had been elusive since March 2022 -. And seven minutes later, he plays, doubles up. Thus, he became the first Venezuelan to score a brace in Argentine football.
“The positive streak is over and now it’s a question of continuing to work as I have done since I arrived. I’ve come to add and you have to be at full strength,” said Rondón after the match. And he added: “I was surprised that he started because Beltrán was doing well on his own, but I had the opportunity to play from the start and luckily I scored.” In turn, on his performance, he commented: “It wasn’t just the goals, I got into the game, this is the coach’s idea and I’m finding myself in agreement with my teammates. We reflect on the field what we do during the week”.
The rigor, beyond the precise interventions of González Pirez, Enzo Pérez and Beltrán to enable, was all thanks to the Venezuelan. Because he threatened to settle, he got rid of the goalkeeper and received a cut from behind punishable by a penalty. Rondón, despite the drought that persecuted him, defined the left post of one with impressive calmness.
After a while, Rondón took advantage of his energetic drive, dominated the ball and defined with his left foot between goalkeeper Cháves’ legs to make it 2-0 before 20 minutes. Celebrated by him, of course, but also by Demichelis, who more than once put the Venezuelan on the bench, anticipating that at a certain point the door would open and raising his arms in joy.
With Venezuela, where he is a historic scorer, Rondón did well: in the last Fifa appointment, the nine assisted and scored so Vinotinto beat Saudi Arabia itself who embittered the national team on their debut in the World Cup. With River, this was getting elusive. Even if, it should be clarified, the drought in the clubs has been around for a long time.
Rondón hadn’t scored a goal in a team for more than 13 months. That goal had been converted by England’s Boreham Wood during his time at Everton on March 3 last year.
Since then, Rondón has played 24 matches – in total, 635 minutes – and failed to convert in any of them. Nearly half of those engagements have been at River, where he went 10 games without scoring. That’s why he had been demoted by Beltrán although it was the first option to change. Now, Rondón wants more and wants to be a figure.
Source: Clarin
