River Plateleader of the 2023 Professional Football League (LPF) tournament, will host Sporting Cristal from Peru this Wednesdayin search of his first victory in the Libertadores Cup of America.
The match, corresponding to the second date of Group D, It will be played from 9:00 p.m. at the Monumental stadium, refereed by Jhon Ospina and transmission of Telefé, Fox Sports and Star+.
The “millionaire” will debut as a local after the setback in Bolivia, on the first date against The Strongest (3-1) in the height of La Paz.
After that defeat, Martín Demichelis’s team added three victories in a row in the local tournament, which leads with 30 points, six more than San Lorenzo.
River has won eight of the last nine games it has played in all competitions, and only conceded those three goals at the start of the 2023 Copa Libertadores.
Last Sunday they beat Newell’s (1-0) in Rosario in the final and tied their sixth victory in a row with an undefeated fence.
Sporting Cristal entered the group stage after eliminating Huracán in the last qualifying stage, but in their presentation they suffered a severe setback against Fluminense 3-1 at the National Stadium in Lima.
The Peruvian team is led by the Brazilian Tiago Nunes, an old acquaintance of River since he was in charge of Athletico Paranaense in the 2019 Recopa Sudamericana that the team of “Muñeco” Marcelo Gallardo won.
River will try to extend its good moment and add the first three points to direct the campaign in the Libertadores after the fall in Bolivia.
Regarding the last commitment in Rosario, Demichelis will use the usual starters that were preserved.
Milton Casco and the Chilean Paulo Díaz will reappear in defense for Andrés Herrera and Emanuel Mammana, respectively.
Captain Enzo Pérez will return instead of the Uruguayan Nicolás de la Cruz and Esequiel Barco would enter for Agustín Palavecino.
The doubt goes through the lead, since Lucas Beltrán will enter for the Colombian Miguel Borja but it is not defined if he will pair up with the Venezuelan Salomón Rondón or continue with José Paradela.
The good news for River’s coaching staff is that important players such as Matías Suárez and Pablo Solari are still recovering football, who scored the goal of the agonizing victory at the Coloso Marcelo Bielsa stadium.
Sporting Cristal will have a significant loss since on the first date Yoshimar Yotún, one of the members of the Peruvian team that has the squad, was expelled (the other is Jesús Castillo).
The “celestial” team played on Friday for the Peruvian tournament and tied 1-1, at home, against Sport Boys. With two games less, the Peruvian “brewer” is in fourth position with 17 points, seven behind the leader Alianza Lima.
After three games without winning, the Peruvian press points out that it is a team with good preparation and technique but with little forcefulness in attack.
This will be the seventh cross between River and Sporting Cristal in Conmebol tournaments and in the previous ones the Argentine team won five and only lost one.
possible formations
River Plate: Franco Armani; Milton Casco, Leandro Gonzalez, Paulo Diaz and Enzo Diaz; Ignacio Fernandez, Enzo Perez, Rodrigo Aliendro and Esequiel Barco; Solomon Rondon or Jose Paradela and Lucas Beltran. DT: Martin Demichelis.
Sporting Cristal: Renato Solis; Jhilmar Lora, Gianfranco Chávez, Ignácio and Nilson Loyola; Jesús Pretell, Jesús Castillo and Jostin Alarcón; Washington Corozo or Leandro Sosa, Brenner and Joao Grimaldo. DT: Tiago Nunes.
- Hour: 21.00
- Estadio: River Plate
- Referee: John Ospina (Colombia)
- WAS: Juan Lara (Chile)
- TV: Telefe, Fox Sports and Star+