River Plate celebrated its 121st birthday with a historic win, which also served to crown Julián Álvarez as the great millionaire scorer in the Libertadores. Núñez’s team defeated Alianza Lima 8-1, with six goals from the young River Plate star, equaling a record that remained unattainable for 37 years: that of Juan Carlos Sánchez Frías on April 7, 1985, when Blooming beat the team Venezuelan Deportivo Italia 8-0.
At 15′, at 18′, at 41′, at 54′, at 57′ and at 83′, Álvarez was present in the rival net. In what will be one of his last games at the club, the striker took two balls for the six cries, which he will surely keep at his home in Manchester when he joins City next July.
Until now, only one player had managed to convert six goals in a single Copa Libertadores game, and that was Juan Carlos Sánchez Frías, nicknamed Pinocchio and born in Las Lomitas (Formosa), in 1985 he was 29 years old when, wearing the jacket of Blooming from Bolivia, scored six goals against Deportivo Italia.
Sánchez Frías, a Bolivian national, is in the top 100 scorers in world football history, with 266 goals in 360 games.
The day of the great 8-0 win against Blooming reached the record thanks to referee Pablo Vaga, who in 1962 directed Emelec’s 7-2 win over Universidad Católica de Chile. Enrique Raimondi scored the eighth but the referee annulled it.
Now, Julián Álvarez equaled that mark by scoring his 51st goal in 115 official matches, just four behind Colombian Rafael Santos Borré, the top scorer of the Gallardo era.
The record for goals in a single Libertadores game wearing the River shirt was in the hands of a Santa Fe native: Ignacio Scocco, who in September 2017 scored five against the Bolivian team Jorge Wilstermann to round off an 8-0 scoreline.
Former Newell’s Nacho Scocco now placed second, behind Alvarez.
Álvarez, 22, also surpassed two other River footballers who had also scored five goals in a single game, although not for Libertadores: Luis María Rongo (on April 23, 1939, in the 8-0 against Ferro) and Leopoldo Luque (on February 22, 1976, in 5-1 against San Lorenzo).
