On a special and emotional night, for the farewells of historians, River ended 2023 with another joy. In Santiago del Estero, they defeated Rosario Central 2-0, winning their second Champions Trophy. the 71st title in its history and, despite the ups and downs, ended up becoming the best Argentine football team of the year. He ratified in the Madre de Cities what he did in the Professional League, in which he was champion from start to finish, and the distance he gained over the others in the annual ranking.
The match, which didn’t have the tension of other finals, started as expected. With River handling the ball and being the protagonist and Rosario Central retreating, crouching. Regardless of the positions that both teams usually occupy, it was logical that this situation could occur right from the start.
River arrived at this Champions Trophy final more rested, with fresher legs. Their last game, against Central, had been 13 days earlier, when they were eliminated from the League Cup. On the other hand, Rosario’s team played last week on this same stage, where they beat Platense and won the title which gave them the passage to this definition.
AS, Miguel Angel Russo’s team suffered in the match. And River took advantage of it. To the point that in the first half he created a dozen opportunities in which he could have scored and closed the game well in advance, but thanks to the great work of Jorge Broun He could only convert one goal. It was a demonstration Invoice, who intervened several times to prevent his bow from falling. And there were other shots that hit the posts too.
River’s goal came on the counterattackrecovery of Esequiel Barco, who opens for Pablo Solari, and, as a former winger, the former Colo-Colo launched a poisonous cross that Colidio pushed away.
River opened the match with Central’s formula, which had focused on the counterattack with long balls, but only in the last part of the first half did its best players appear, such as Malcorra, Lovera and Campaz. Only then did the game go back and forth, with the midfield as the transit zone.
Before, It was River’s monologue. And all the attacking players had the chance to transform. The first was Diablito Echeverri, who finally got his chance as a starter. A volley from in front of the goal goes just wide.
Fiery, the youngster lived up to his nickname and, at times, was hell for double fives and rival defenders. Using pure technique, he made deep passes, like when he left Solari hand in hand and even dared to shoot Malcorra. He also made good diagonal and non-tracking movements in space. He integrated well with Barco, another River player who put his talent at the service of the generation of the game. Colidio himself, very active in putting the shows together.
That millionaire attack was well supported by Enzo Perezwho in his latest role took all the air out of his lungs to run from side to side and also dictated the pace of the passes.
At the beginning of the second half, Central tried to get back into the game, but continued to be River’s. And it is even more so after Campaz’s expulsion. Broun once again blocks several chances. Until Barco is enabled Nacho Fernandez, who scored the second and sealed the final. Subsequently, a goal against Centrale (header by Bianchi) was disallowed due to offside by VAR.
The evening ended with pure emotion with the entrance of Maidana for Enzo Pérez. And a gigantic and eternal ovation for the two heroes.
Source: Clarin
Jason Root is the go-to source for sports coverage at News Rebeat. With a passion for athletics and an in-depth knowledge of the latest sports trends, Jason provides comprehensive and engaging analysis of the world of sports.