BUENOS AIRES (AP) — With two goals from Colombian Miguel Ángel Borja, River Plate beat Rosario Central 2-1 for the thirteenth round of the Professional Football League Cup on Sunday.
Lautaro Giaccone opened the scoring for Central in the 13th minute. Meanwhile, the Colombian reversed the score for the River Plate team at 66 and 86. With this result, River is in third position with 24 points in zone A where the first four advance to the quarterfinals. This initial round has only one date left.
The Auriazules, with no chance of advancing in this competition and competing in the Copa Libertadores, presented a formation without regular starters. In the subcontinental tournament, they debuted with a 1-0 victory against Peñarol.
The millionaires, for their part, presented a team with starters after having won their debut in the Libertadores 2-0 away against Deportivo Táchira.
The central players surprised all the spectators with a great goal. Franco Ibarra threw a long cross-field pass. Giaccone controlled and finished with a long shot to Franco Armani’s far post.
At 54, Agustín Bravo left due to an injury to his right knee. The central defender could be the 21st with a ligament tear in this joint among Argentina’s first division clubs in 2024.
The River Plate team, in a match that had been going uphill, managed to tie through the Colombian Borja. The forward touched a low pass in the six-yard box first to seal the tie.
With the momentum of the goal, Martín Demichelis’ team went to seek victory. Miguel Borja himself got the second. Ignacio Fernández, coming from the substitute bench, centered behind first and the Colombian finished strongly in front of the goal to make it 2-1.
“We continue to depend on ourselves,” Borja said post-match to the TV broadcast. “We had a strong rival in front of us. All the teams come to play a final. (Rosario Central) has a very good team. “We went out to look for the second half with more attacking players.”
In zone B, Racing beat Lanús 2-0 in the Cilindro de Avellaneda. Adrián Martínez, the tournament’s top scorer with 11 goals, opened the scoring at 5 with a header. Solari expanded in the 55th with a great left-footed shot into the upper right corner of Lucas Acosta’s goal. With this result, La Academia maintains its chances of reaching the next round by being in fifth place in the group with 21 units.
Barracas Central beat Instituto 3-2 on the Huracán field and was one step away from being among the four classified in group A. The local goals were the work of Alan Cantero, Lucas Brochero and Miguel Brizuela against. Facundo Suárez and Rodrigo Insúa scored against the visit. Claudio Tapia’s club has 25 points and is second.
On Saturday, Boca Juniors beat Newell’s Old Boys 3-1 as a visitor and increased their chances of advancing in the competition. The xeneizes must play more than 60 minutes of the match against Estudiantes in La Plata, which had been suspended due to the health problem of the rojiblanco Javier Altamirano. With the three points achieved in the red and black stadium, they have 22 and are in fourth position in group B.
Atlético Tucumán won its first match in the championship by defeating Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata 3-2. Mateo Bajamich scored two of the top three goals. The rest was the work of Juan Infante. The triperos scored through Eric Ramírez and David Zalazar.
Other results: zone A: Vélez Sarsfield 0, Argentinos Juniors 0; Banfield 0, Independiente de Avellaneda 1 (Friday); Workshops 1, Independiente Rivadavia 1 (Saturday). Zone B: Students 5, Central Córdoba (SdE) 0; San Lorenzo 0, Defense and Justice 2; Unión 1, Belgrano 2 (Saturday).
Next games: zone A: Riestra-Huracán (Monday). Zone B: Godoy Cruz-Sarmiento, Platense-Tigre (Monday).
Positions: zone A: Argentinos, Barracas 25 points; River 24; Workshops 23; Independent, Vélez 22; Institute 17; Gymnastics 16; Banfield, Rosario Central 14; Hurricane 12; Riestria 11; Atlético Tucumán 10; Independiente Rivadavia 8. Zone B: Godoy Cruz 26; Lanús, Defense and Justice 23; Mouth 22; Racing, Students, Newell’s 21; Unión 17, San Lorenzo 15; Belgrano 14; Platense 12; Central Córdoba 10; Sarmiento 9; Tiger 5.
Next date (fourteenth and last of the group stage): Zone A: Argentinos-Barracas, Gimnasia-Banfield, Huracán-Atl. Tucumán, Independiente-Talleres, Independiente Rivadavia-Vélez, Instituto-River, Rosario Central-Riestra. Zone B: Belgrano-Racing, Boca-Godoy Cruz, Central Córdoba-San Lorenzo, Defensa-Newell’s, Lanús- Estudiantes, Sarmiento-Platense, Tigre-Unión.
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