River Plate, leader of the 2023 tournament of the Professional League de Fútbol (LPF), will receive tomorrow Union of Santa Fe for the ninth date, before the debut in the Copa Libertadores de América.
The match will take place from 9:30 p.m. at the Monumental stadium, with arbitration by Fernando Echenique and transmission by TNT Sports.
Before the break for the FIFA date, Martín Demichelis’s team was at the top of the standings with 18 points and will defend the leadership just before its presentation in the most important tournament on the continent.
The “millionaire” will receive the battered Unión tomorrow, which is 26th with just 7 units, and then will focus on the hard trip to Bolivia to visit The Strongest on Tuesday, at the height of La Paz.
River arrives toned since on the last day they defeated Sarmiento (2-0) in Junín and basted their fourth victory in a row.
This streak began after the unexpected defeat on the fifth date against Arsenal (2-1) at the Monumental that had shaken the start of Demichelis’s cycle.
Unión comes from losing to Racing Club (3-1) at home and will look for its second victory in the championship to get away from the bottom zone.
Uruguayan Gustavo Munúa’s team is under reconstruction after the departure of important players such as Juan Ignacio Nardoni (Racing) and Juan Carlos Portillo (Workshops) but they need to add to avoid suffering in the future with permanence.
How to watch River vs Union for the Professional League
Broadcast live TNT Sports
The “tatengue” also drags a long streak of 14 games without winning out of April 15 with six losses and eight draws.
Demichelis took advantage of the break to deepen the idea he wants for the team and also gave minutes to the usual substitutes in a friendly against Universidad de Chile in Salta and with a soccer practice with the Argentine national team.
During the 4-3 victory against the Chileans in the north, the former defender made his debut for Matías Gallardo, Marcelo’s son and one of the reserve figures.
Although his international adventure will begin next Tuesday, the coach plans to do his best to defend the top of the tournament.
The only question is whether to keep Esequiel Barco as the starter or lean towards Agustín Palavecino, who entered and defined the game at the Eva Perón de Junín.
The other thing that the coaching staff will have to decide is whether to take the Uruguayan Nicolás De La Cruz and the Venezuelan Salomón Rondón to the substitute bench.
The midfielder is better from the synovitis in his right knee that sidelined him from the last match, while the striker will only have one training session after playing two friendlies with his team in Saudi Arabia.
On the Unión side, Munúa will have to make a forced change since Mauro Luna Diale was sent off against Racing, he will be out for two dates and the Paraguayan Junior Marabel would enter in his place.
In defense, Franco Calderón will return to the title and replace Oscar Piris and Kevin Zenón would enter for Daniel Juárez in midfield.
Unión’s last victory in Núñez was in January 2019 2-1 and on the next visit they fell 4-0.
The last two precedents were in Santa Fe with a local victory (1-0 for the 2022 League Cup) and a 5-1 win by the “millionaire” in June last year.
In the history, River dominates with 30 wins against 15 for Union and is completed with 24 draws.
Formations River vs Union for the Professional League
River Plate: Franco Armani; Milton Casco, Leandro González Pirez, Paulo Díaz and Enzo Díaz; Rodrigo Aliendro and Enzo Pérez: Ignacio Fernández, Esequiel Barco or Agustín Palavecino, José Paradela; and Lucas Beltran. DT: Martin Demichelis.
Union: Santiago Mele; Federico Vera, Franco Calderón, Claudio Corvalán and Lucas Esquivel; Imanol Machuca, Luciano Aued, Yeison Gordillo, Ezequiel Cañete, Kevin Zenón; and Junior Marabel. DT: Gustavo Munúa.
Time: 21:30
Stadium: Monumental
Referee: Fernando Echenique
VAR: Fernando Espinoza
TV: TNT Sports.
Source: Ambito
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