Bombonera devoured by the Millionaires! River take the Superclasico bragging rights

We got everything that a clash between Boca Juniors and River Plate can offer in the first Superclasico of the season. Fierce duels, running until exhaustion, a lot of nervousness, a lot of good moves, even more mistakes. In the end, the key one was made by the Boca players, who made an unacceptable number of defensive mistakes, which Salomon Rondon and Enzo Diaz punished - 0-2.

Martin Demichelis' team absolutely deserved that lead, and one could say the final victory, as they were much more specific, especially in the first 45 minutes. On the other hand, it can be said that Boca and their coach, Jorge Almiron, have paid the price to the fact that the Juniors will face Palmeiras in the Copa Libertadores playoff rematch in five days. The strategist of the home team played with a combined team at the start of the match and lost the battle for supremacy in the middle of the field, which caused confusion for the back line of the team. In both goals, first the one in the 40th minute, and then the one in the sixth minute of stoppage time, unsuccessful attempts by the home players to kick the ball out of their penalty area were punished, which the cunning guests took advantage of cruelly.

At halftime, Almiron sent Cristian Medina, Valentin Barco and Ignacio Fernandez on the field, and twenty minutes later, Ezequiel Ceballos and Edinson Cavani. It completely changed the balance of power on the field. The experienced Uruguayan Matador was a huge burden for River's defense, which he was able to go behind in the 72nd minute of the game. He first hit the crossbar with a header, and then sent the rebound into Sergio Romero's net with a scissor-kick. However, the referees immediately pointed to offside, which was also proved a few minutes later after watching the video. It was literally a millimeter offside, but it turned out that the referees were right.

This is River's second consecutive victory over a big rival. After the last one last season, Almiron and his team spewed fire because of the alleged injustices of the judges. They will have to take personal responsibility for tonight's match, especially if they fail to qualify for the final of the Copa Libertadores, which will not be easy at all, given that the first match ended with 0-0 at La Bombonera.

The highly motivated Dario Benedetto provided the biggest resistance to the visitors in the first half. The temperamental striker impressed with the way he fought for every ball. He tried on several occasions to surprise the fantastic Franco Armani, but failed. He was also looking for a penalty kick in the 15th minute, but the custodian read the situation perfectly and kicked the ball at the ideal moment.

River could have crowned their dominant role in the first half with at least one more goal. The home players had several solid attempts, the best of which was Manuel Lanzini in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Then Rondon could have crowned a good game with an assist, he spotted it perfectly and at the right moment gave the ball into the space for his teammate, but Romero ran out at the right moment and prevented the early capitulation of his team.

Together with Cavani, Valentin Barco changed his team's attitude towards their duties on the field in terms of character. At times, he went too far with his temperament, went beyond the limits of what was allowed, which resulted in a real mess near the touchline in the 68th minute of the match.

That moment was also an introduction to the best opportunity for the hosts in the game. Matador did everything he could to that situation, he managed to shake the indomitable Armani, but it turned out that he was a millimeter ahead of his guards when Blondel crossed.

In those moments, Matador exerted enormous pressure on Boca's defense, which in the 75th minute brought another great chance for the hosts. Ezequiel Ceballos fought for a cross from the right flank in a great way, the ball went straight to Cavani's feet, but Herrera Barrios' heroic reaction followed, who took the ball off the opponent's feet with an excellent start and prevented him from scoring the much-desired goal.

As the match drew to a close, the River players had more and more space left in the opponent's half. A colossal chance in the third minute of stoppage time was missed by Facundo Colindo, who ruined the great play of his team, since after a series of successful passes he managed to kick the ball over the empty goal from seven meters away.

However, what did not work for him, worked in the end for Enzo Diaz, who was in the right place to wait for the disastrous reaction of the home defense and set the final result of the match. Rodrigo Alejandro reacted terribly in front of his goal, who missed the ball and allowed Diaz to become the hero of his team.