River Plate achieved a valuable victory that brings it closer to qualifying for the next Copa Libertadores by defeating Estudiantes 2-1, in one of the matches played on Friday night for the 25th round of the Argentine Soccer League.
On his visit to La Plata, the ‘Millonario’ was more effective than a Estudiantes team that dominated a good part of the game but squandered many chances and ran into a formidable performance by Franco Armani.
The experienced goalkeeper excelled with ten saves and a penalty against Guido Carrillo (65).
The former Argentine national team goalkeeper saved two one-on-ones, including one against Colombian Alexis Manyoma before the first minute of play. River’s response was lethal and Marcelo Gallardo’s team quickly gained distance with goals from Facundo Colidio (4) and Maximiliano Meza (8).
Far from giving up, Estudiantes overturned the development in River’s field, trying with 25 shots on goal in the entire match, but could only with the security of the visiting goalkeeper with the discount that Guido Carrillo scored (60) with a point-blank header.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
“You had to get up and win after losing in Mendoza. Today we suffer more than necessary, but it can happen. We have to add up until the end and see what happens with those at the top,” Armani highlighted.
With this result, River is fifth in the League table, six points behind the leader Vélez, but the most important thing is that it rises to second place in the annual table, which grants three entry places to next year’s Copa Libertadores .
In the first game on Friday, Belgrano recovered after the resignation of coach Juan Cruz Real and returned to victory with a timely 2-0 win over San Lorenzo as a visitor with goals from Nicolás ‘Uvita’ Fernández (29) and Franco Jara (82 ).
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
The 25th and penultimate date will continue on Saturday with Banfield-Lanús, Rosario Central-Racing, Defensa y Justicia-Godoy Cruz and Instituto-Riestra.
On Sunday, Independiente-Central Córdoba, Vélez-Sarmiento and Boca-Gimnasia will face each other, and on Monday it will be the turn of Barracas Central-Tigre, Platense-Unión, Talleres-Huracán, Independiente Rivadavia-Argentinos and Atlético Tucumán-Newell’s.
These are the positions:
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
– Pts J G E P GF GC
1. Vélez Sarsfield 45 24 12 9 3 35 15
2. Hurricane 43 24 11 10 3 27 15
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
3. Workshops 42 24 11 9 4 31 24
4. Racing 40 23 12 4 7 34 22
5. River Plate 39 24 10 9 5 33 19
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
6. Union 36 24 10 6 8 26 25
7. Atlético Tucumán 36 24 10 6 8 25 25
8. Boca Juniors 35 24 9 8 7 28 23
9. Belgrano 34 25 8 10 7 30 28
10. Independent 33 24 7 12 5 21 16
11. Institute 33 24 9 6 9 29 25
12. Platense 33 24 8 9 7 18 17
13. Riestria 33 24 8 9 7 24 24
14. Gymnastics LP 32 24 8 8 8 21 20
15. Students 31 24 7 10 7 26 25
16. Ind. Rivadavia 31 24 8 7 9 19 24
17. Tigre 30 24 7 9 8 26 28
18. Rosario Central 29 24 7 8 9 25 23
19. Godoy Cruz 29 24 6 11 7 23 25
20. Lanús 29 24 6 11 7 22 28
21. San Lorenzo 28 24 7 7 10 19 23
22. Central Córdoba 28 24 7 7 10 26 31
23. Defense and Justice 27 24 6 9 9 24 31
24. Argentinos Juniors 26 24 7 5 12 18 24
25. Sarmiento 24 24 5 9 10 16 25
26. Newell’s 24 24 6 6 12 19 33
27. Banfield 23 24 5 8 11 20 29
28. Barracas Central 20 24 4 8 12 12 30
str/gfe
