River Plate’s Copa Libertadores campaign is proving not to be quite as straight-forward as first thought after a thoroughly frustrating evening in the Monumental ended in a draw with Liga MX side, Tigres. Following the opening defeat in the altitude of Bolivia, River now find themselves bottom of Group Six and Marcelo Gallardo will be wondering how his side did not add three points to their tally last night.
Neither side was helped by the state of the Monumental pitch in the opening stages as the effects of two sold out concerts over the past week were evident. In spite of the surface it was River who dominated almost from kickoff and had already squandered a couple of presentable opportunities when the visitors took a surprise lead. Nahuel Guzmán’s long punt upfield flicked off a River head and caught a static River defence sleeping. Ecuador striker, Joffre Guerrón ran clear and skipped around Julio Chiarini to slot Tigres into the lead.
The visitors are one of the strongest defences in México and began to sit deeper and deeper, allowing River to dictate the remainder of the match but with every missed chances grew the uneasy feeling of a home defeat.
Finally with just over fifteen minutes remaining, Carlos Sánchez drew River level. The Uruguayan had already missed two simple chances by his own standards but made no mistake in acrobatically volleying the ball past Guzmán.
River pushed for a winner and came within an inch when Rodrigo Mora’s volley came back off the upright but Tigres managed to hold on for a valuable draw. River now have a degree of pressure on them as they sit at the bottom of the group on one point. Next up is a trip to Peru to face Juan Aurich, where they can ill-afford any more mistakes.
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