River president, Rodolfo D’Onofrio claimed this week that it wouldn’t be disastrous if his side were eliminated from the Copa Libertadores and after last night’s 2-2 draw with Tigres in Monterrey that appears to be reality. For River to find themselves in this position is astonishing given that they came into the competition with essentially the same side that won the Copa Sudamericana and were not drawn in the toughest of groups. However, five matches in and River have still not won a match and must now win their final fixture against San José and hope that group winners Tigres defeat Juan Aurich.
River’s performance last night, barring the final five minutes, was flat and they deservedly trailed Tigres. Arévalo Ríos gave Tigres an early lead with a well-placed shot from the edge of the penalty area and there was little response from River. When Damián Álvarez tapped in Tigres’ second just after the hour mark it looked all over for River.
However, five minutes from time Teo Gutiérrez pulled a goal back, tapping in after Nahuel Guzmán could only parry Rodrigo Mora’s initial shot and in the 90th minute Mora volleyed in a spectacular equaliser.
River could not find a winner and the point, although mathematically keeps them in contention, was not enough. The whole campaign has been an utter disappointment and after each failure an excuse was made, whether it was altitude or a synthetic pitch, with the hope that the next performance would be much better. Last night was more of the same: sluggish in attack and sloppy in defence.
The final group game is in the Monumental against Bolivian side, San José and River should get the win that they need. However, they need Juan Aurich to lose at home to Tigres. The Mexican side are already top of the group and although adding another three points would improve their seeding for the knockout stages they will play the Clásico Regiomontano against Monterrey three days later. They would be excused to rest players for the midweek Libertadores match ahead of such a match.
This is of course bad news for River but quite how they find themselves in this position will need to be reviewed by Marcelo Gallardo and his team.
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