Borja scores in River Plate’s draw against Argentines

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River Plate and Argentinos Juniors faced off at the Monumental stadium to play the first match of the Argentine League Cup, which had its first date this weekend and whose format divides the 28 teams into two zones and has a phase of playoffs that defines the champion.

The locals had Colombian Miguel Ángel Borja on their roster as a starter, who was very active in the first half and who had several options to unbalance the score. However, River also had some defensive problems that almost cost them in the first 45 minutes.

At minute 15, an alleged infraction against Borja was called as a maximum penalty, however, the video referee reviewed it and declared it as a non-foul. A few minutes later, the Colombian was able to score, but his play was annulled due to offside that the lineman detected.

Until the 46th minute, River was able to go ahead. The attacker managed to get between the Argentinos defense and with a right hand he beat goalkeeper Rodríguez who had previously saved a couple of other options. The forward celebrated in his style and after his score, he finished the first half.

Second half: Tie at the Monumental

At the beginning of the second half, Argentinos came out with the intention of not allowing River to increase the score. They stood in a low block to, with numerical superiority, defend the arrivals of the locals more effectively. This made Borja more marked and unable to receive the ball comfortably.

River tried, but their rival’s new approach made it increasingly difficult, so Demichelis made changes to try to give the team more intensity, mobility and to find the spaces they needed to penetrate the Argentinos wall.

But, in an oversight by River’s defense on the right sector, Santiago Montiel faced with personality, took out two players and took a shot that beat Armani without problems. When celebrating, he made a gesture that the River players did not like and caused a fight before continuing the game.

One of those who complained to Montiel was the Colombian Miguel Borja and also Nacho Fernández after Montiel showed the shirt to the fans. The locals saw how the tie came as they did not know how to decipher the problem that the rival gave them and not withstand the counterattack.

With this result, River is seventh in the standings of its group, while Argentinos is fourth, with both one point. On the next day, the Demichelis’ team visits Barracas Central and Pablo Guede’s team will receive Deportivo Riestra.

Argentinos Juniors

• Diego Rodriguez

• 13 Tobias Palacio

• Meza
  (81′)

• 19 Jonathan Galván

• 4 Roman Vega (67′)

• 8 Alan Rodriguez

• 22 Alan Lescano (80′)

• 17 Franco Moyano

• Nicolas Oroz (66′)

• Maximiliano Romero (61′)

• Leonardo Heredia

• Dock

• 25 Lucas Gomez

• 16 Francisco Alvarez

• 23 Thiago Santamaría (81′)

• Sebastian Prieto (67′)

• Erik Godoy

• 24 Mateo Díaz Chaves

• 28 Matías Perello

• 18 Santiago Montiel (80′)

• 10 Gastón Verón (66′)

• 36 Ariel Gamarra

• 1 Miguel Acosta

• 26 José Herrera (61′)

Changes

Jose Herrera (61′, Maximiliano Romero), Franco Mastantuono (64′, Facundo Colidio), Gaston Veron (66′, Nicolás Oroz), Sebastian Prieto (67′, Román Vega), Agustín Ruberto (80′, Nacho Fernández), Santiago Montiel (80′, Alan Lescano), Thiago Santamaría (81′, Fernando Meza)

Goals

1-0, 45′: Miguel Borja1-1, 83′: Santiago Montiel

Cards

Referee: Darío Herrera
VAR referee: Ariel Penel, Nelson Sosa
Andres Herrera (77′, Yellow) Alan Rodriguez (80′,Yellow) Santiago Montiel (84′, Yellow) Paulo Diaz (84′, Yellow) Franco Moyano (92′, Yellow) Nicolas Fonseca (94′, Yellow)