Honours even in a wet and wild Superclásico – River salvage draw (VIDEO)

Torrential rain in Buenos Aires rendered the Superclásico virtually unplayable but besides that, and a dreadful refereeing performance from Mauro Vigliano, River Plate’s draw against bitter rivals, Boca Juniors was as entertaining as it could be. It wasn’t exactly pretty but two goals, two red cards a missed penalty and plenty of controversy meant that as always there were no shortage of talking points.

The buildup to the match apart from the impressive start to Marcelo Gallardo’s tenure at River and the mini-resurgence that Boca have experienced since following their rivals lead in appointing a young former player, in this case Rodolfo Arruabarrena, was the weather.

Heavy rain in Buenos Aires overnight that had not let up in the buildup meant that the pitch at El Monumental was effectively under water. The reasons why Vigliano and any other officials decided that it was fit to play on is anyone’s guess but the expense and embarrassment of calling it off at the last minute obviously outweighed any other consideration.

With passing the ball along the ground made impossible in the conditions, set-pieces and crosses were the source of most of the chances and although River threatened early it was Boca who took the lead midway through the first half.

A hopeful free kick pumped into the River box wasn’t dealt with by anyone and instead 21-year-old centre back, Lisandro Magallán swept the ball past Marcelo Barovero. The youngster was only in the side as a result of the injuries in Boca’s backline but the Argentina under-20 captain celebrated what without question is the highlight of his fledgling career.

River reponded well and Gabriel Mercado went close with a header against the post but in the closing stages of the first half, Vigliano provided the home side with a gift-wrapped route back into the match. Ariel Rojas’ shot from the edge of the box was blocked in front of goal by the head of Fernando Gago but the referee thought it was blocked with the hand and not only awarded the penalty but showed Gago a red card.

Boca were rightly furious but they deserved a little bit of luck and found it straight away when Rodrigo Mora blazed the resulting penalty way over the bar.

Playing the second half with ten men, River were understandably dominant and switched to a more attacking 3-4-3 in an effort to find a goal. In spite of all their attacking options on the pitch the goal eventually came from a defensive replacement. Germán Pezzella was only for a few minutes when his initial header was parried by Agustin Orión but the youngster was alert enough to poke in the rebound.

River were then reduced to 10 men themselves after Ramiro Funes-Mori’s rather wild challenge was deemed a straight red card. With both sides a man down the hectic last few minutes played out without real incident and the match ended all-square.

River remain unbeaten but Boca will be pleased that the earned a valuable point away to the league’s top side and in testing conditions. Regardless of the weather, the pitch and the referee, the superclásico remained compulsive viewing as always.