River Plate were missing their Colombian striker, Teo Gutiérrez on Wednesday evening when they tasted defeat for the first time in 31 matches against Estudiantes. The controversial but undoubtedly talented player had allowed left Buenos Aires to join up with the Colombia squad for their friendlies against the USA and Slovenia.
Last night inside Craven Cottage, Teo played a significant role in Colombia’s 2-1 victory over the USA when he headed the winning goal to complete Los Cafeteros comeback after going behind to Jozy Altidore’s penalty. The Colombia squad is now due to travel to Slovenia for a second European friendly but River Plate have been boosted by the news that José Peckerman has allowed the striker to return to Argentina.
Gutiérrez will now be available to play in the Copa Sudamericana ‘Superclásico’ Semi Final against Boca Juniors on Thursday night. The 29-year-old will miss this Sunday’s visit of Olimpo but Marcelo Gallardo will be confident his title favourites have enough to return to winning ways without their leading scorer.
If River can pick up all three points and then travel across the city to La Bombonera for Thursday night’s clash with Teo then River Plate will be confident of maintaining their challenge on both fronts. The next ten days is critical in River’s season: both legs of the Semi Final are sandwiched either side of a massive trip to El Cilindro de Avellaneda to face title rivals, Racing.
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