After the first leg in the previous week, not many people would have predicted River Plate to advance to the next round. They showed those people to never count them out impressively last night. A 3-0 away win at Brazilian team Cruzeiro meant it was them who ended up winning 3-1 on aggregate and reaching the semi final against either Guaraní or Argentinian rivals Racing Club.
This time around it took place in a lot more human way compared to the scandalous round of 16 Superclásico. Goals from Carlos Sánchez (20’), Jonatan Maidana (45’) and a wonderful strike from Teó Gutierrez (52’) were too much to handle for Cruzeiro who had entered the game as favorites after last week’s one sided affair. It is not like the Brazilians did not stand a chance, they even led their guests in shots, but at the end of the day, what matters is on the scoreboard: 0-3.
River coach Gallardo showed himself proud of his team on the press conference: “I have to thank and appreciate the efforts of each of these players, I'm proud of them. This group played with personality, had enormous courage and dedication." He added that they “had said we will not give up and will recover from adversity."
When asked for the reasons for the success, he concentrated on aggressiveness and higher accuracy, “also, when we generated chances, we were decisive, which is something that in recent games we were not getting.” Gallardo stressed that he is still "enjoying being in the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores. I'm still very excited about the victory and the qualification. The players made a sublime effort.”
You bet they will do once again in the semifinal, when the Copa Libertadores returns from its Copa América break.
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