River Plate, leader of the Professional League de Fútbol with a good advantage over his closest rival, will take over this Sunday the first clásico in Martín Demichelis’s cycle as coach when he receives Independent, who accumulated 11 presentations without winning, in the outgoing party that proposes date 13.
There will not have been many occasions in which there is such an express and wide difference in individual category and collective performance in a classic as important for Argentine soccer as it is every time the “Millionaire” and “Los Diablos Rojos” face each other. Avellaneda.
River, with 30 points, six more than his guard San Lorenzo (24), marked differences with all his rivals and although football is not an exact science, everything seems to indicate that the domestic tournament will not slip out of hand for the team that is now led by Demichelis, who replaced Marcelo Gallardo, the club’s most winning coach in its history.
This River, which has just beaten Sporting Cristal, from Peru, in the Copa Libertadores, has seven consecutive victories and all with an undefeated fence, which allows goalkeeper Franco Armani to accumulate 639 minutes without conceding goals and seeking to beat his own record of 965 achieved in 2018.
River stands out for the number of good players it has and as proof it is worth remembering that last weekend, when it beat Newell’s in Rosario (1-0), Demichelis left Jonatan Maidana, Salomón Rondón, Pablo Solari, Matías Suárez and Lucas Beltrán, who could calmly be starters in other teams, including Independiente.
Demichelis did not start his cycle well, with unexpected defeats against Belgrano, in Córdoba, and Arsenal, in Núñez, but he straightened his course, changed his scheme several times and also emerged successful in a couple of games in which he was complicated, against Argentinos Juniors and Lanús, on both occasions with controversial arbitration decisions at the request of the VAR.
How to watch River vs Independiente in the Professional League
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However, the match against Independiente is a classic and although his rival is going through a discreet reality, he has been directed for 10 days by Ricardo Zielinski, a DT who knew how to embitter River on more than one occasion, the most relevant when being the coach de Belgrano de Córdoba sent him down in 2011.
The “Russian” always has a formula to complicate River, since he also achieved it with Atlético Tucumán, when he deprived him of a title in March 2020 and left it served to Boca who turned Olympic after beating Gymnastics in La Bombonera, also with Estudiantes de La Plata, knew how to beat him, and this Sunday he hopes to give him a new headache.
Independiente overcomes a critical financial state, an institutional chaos that worsened when its president Fabián Doman resigned just six months after taking office with promises that he was not even close to fulfilling, to leave everything in the hands of Néstor Grindetti, the vice president and also mayor of Lanús who will be in charge for 30 days.
On the last date, with the debut of “Russian” Zielinski as coach in the classic against Racing, the “Red Devils” drew 1-1 and reached 11 games without winning in the Professional League, with seven draws and four losses, although at least he showed a certain order and responded to an express request from his fans: he played with mettle.
This Independiente, which suffers from relegation as it is only two points behind Arsenal and Unión, the last in the annual table, the position that will mean the third relegation of the season along with the two worst averages, will clearly go to Monumental as ” point” although Zielinski will be working to complicate River as much as possible.
As for the formations, River will go with the best available, including Esequiel Barco, exIndependiente, in his best moment since he arrived at the club.
Independiente, meanwhile, will not have a key player like left-back Ayrton Costa, suspended, but Zielinski will replace him with the experienced Damián Pérez, and also DT put together a system with one important player per line, two in the areas, the goalkeeper Rodrigo Rey in his own and the Uruguayan Martín Cauteruccio in the rival’s, plus captain Iván Marcone in midfield.
In the history, adding amateurism and professionalism, they played 194 times with a clear River Plate advantage of 82 wins against 58 for Independiente, plus 54 draws.
Formations River vs Independiente by the Professional League
River Plate: Franco Armani; Milton Casco, Leandro González Pirez, Paulo Díaz and Enzo Díaz; Enzo Pérez, Rodrigo Aliendro, Ignacio Fernández and Nicolás De la Cruz; Lucas Beltran and Esequiel Barco. DT: Martin Demichelis.
Independent: Rodrigo Rey; Luciano Gomez, Sergio Barreto and Joaquin Laso; Cristian Báez and Damián Pérez; Iván Marcone, Agustín Mulet and Mauricio Cuero; Martín Cauteruccio and Matías Giménez. DT: Ricardo Zielinski.
Referee: Andrés Merlos.
VAR: Hector Paletta.
Court: River Plate.
Starting time: 20:30.
TV: ESPN Premium.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
