The x-ray of the big five from the least expected side: tell me what 9 you have and I’ll tell you how you play

In football you dream of goals. It is possible that there are some individuals who project themselves into miraculous saves or prodigious qualifications. But celebrating a goal wearing your team’s shirt in a packed stadium is the dream of all football lovers. And those who have the opportunity to realize their fantasies are lucky. Also, they have a giant magnifying glass on their back because of what is expected of them.

In Mouth He’s suffering Edinson Cavani with an inappropriate streak for his monumental career as a serial scorer. Miguel Borja has gone from spare to indispensable in River From Martin Demichelis. Something similar happened with Adam Bareirowhich lasted in its first cycle in Saint Lawrence and now he is captain and reference. A commonplace: the Adriano Martinez In Racing it’s a marvel. Gabriele Avalosmeanwhile, it suffers from the irregularities of the Independent From Carlos Tevez.

So, to understand the place that the teams occupy in the standings and guess what they play, just put the zoom in their forward zone.

Miguel Borja He had to fight to find this moment in River. He started from behind in the consideration of Demichelis, who preferred the Venezuelan Salomón Rondón and Lucas Beltrán. The explanation was football: the Núñez coach likes the attackers to go out and play, to have mobility. The 31-year-old Colombian obviously doesn’t fill that area, but he is infallible when the ball comes to him. And River is the ideal place for a final attacker because it is a team that accumulates midfielders up front and because it generates numerous opportunities per game.

The numbers of hummingbird They explain it: 30 goals in 68 games for River. This season he has celebrated 6 times in 397 minutes played; that is, one scream every 66 minutes. Even more: out of a total of 16 shots, 10 went on target. “Miguel feels much more like a protagonist. Emotion is everything for a player. He needs that support and that trust. “He IS the best 9 of Argentine football, but he must not relax.”Demichelis praised him weeks ago.

The opposite side these days is Edinson Cavani (37), a striker who weighs every minute on the pitch. And the attacker cannot blame the team: Boca generates situations. For example, in the duel against Sarmiento, in the second match played on the San Lorenzo pitch, the Uruguayan wasted five clear opportunities. The Matador has scored 440 goals in his career, even though he only shouted 3 times in 20 duels at Boca. This season it dries in 205 minutes; He missed the target once in five attempts.

“Against Sarmiento, all the passes that Boca gave went to Cavani because he marked them at the moment he had to mark them. For me he played better than the other attackers. That’s why it’s hard for me to watch games on TV. He made perfect movements, the ball will go in. We are happy with him. Let’s hope that some discomfort goes away and he can help the team.”, Juan Román Riquelme defended him.

Miguel Merentiel (28), the Uruguayan who found his place in the world at Boca, walks along the opposite path to Cavani. The beastwho usually shares the attack with his compatriot, he scored 21 goals in 57 games in the Xeneize.

A particular case is that of Adriano Martinez (31), the unexpected letter from Gustavo Costas. In the popular imagination, Marvelous He became an alternative to Roger Martínez. But an untimely injury to the Colombian and the coach’s unshakable confidence catapulted the former Instituto, who enjoyed a glorious afternoon by scoring the goal in Racing’s 1-0 victory in the classic against Independiente in Libertadores de América-Ricardo Enrique Bochini.

Marvelous He is an ideal player for what Costas means: he presses for the exit, he comes out to play, he makes passes. And he scores goals: he adds 6 screamers in 527 minutes (one goal every 87 minutes; 8 shots on target in 17 attempts). “We knew him from Paraguay. There he beat us in the final and scored two goals for us. That’s why we look for it. He is a striker who presses high, who doesn’t let his opponents escape comfortably and has a goal.”Costas explained.

Gabriele Avalos (33) is the player who suffers the most from Independiente’s irregular performance, who scored 5 goals in the 7 matches played in the Cup. Carlos Tevez’s team doesn’t find a defined idea, abuses the balls and plays little in relation to the marker: they don’t attack on the flanks and change formation and scheme from one match to the next. A symptom: The Paraguayan has not scored in 610 minutes for the Rojo; He only has 2 shots on target out of 16 attempts. Likewise, Ávalos is recognized for how he performed in each match and his contribution in set pieces against him.

The story of Adam Bareiro (27) In San Lorenzo it can be summed up with the word patience. The Paraguayan had a first cycle (2019-2020) in which he was looked at askance after a missed penalty against Rosario Central (he tried to bite it). He started with just 4 goals and his return in 2022 didn’t raise much hope, but the striker waited for his moment and everything changed when the goal opened up for him. It is also true that Ciclón, Ruben Insua’s defender, plays a lot on the wings to help him. In this Cup, the captain has scored 3 goals and already has 36 celebrations in 106 matches.

The popular saying goes that goals are love. And there are the forwards of the big teams, who try to unleash passions.