In the midst of the conflict between the Governments of Argentina and Venezuela, the Millionaire team traveled to Colombia and from there by land to San Cristobal. Agustín Ruberto and Franco Mastantuono, the big absentees on the list of those called up to play with Deportivo Táchira.
River did not leave the country in the best of spirits, after Friday’s defeat against Huracán. At 9 in the morning, the players arrived in a group at the Minister Pistarini Airport in Ezeiza to undertake the first part of the trip to San Cristóbal, Venezuela, to face Deportivo Táchira in the debut of the Copa Libertadores.
According to the logistics previously planned by the leadership led by President Jorge Britothe delegation will travel first to Cúcutathe Colombian city closest to one of the border crossings, and then They will board a bus that will leave them in San Cristóbalthe destination where the Deportivo Táchira stadium emerges.
This trip was not in the plans since initially the trip was going to take a charter flight directly to Venezuela, but the itinerary had to be modified due to a diplomatic conflict between the governments of Javier Milei and Nicolás Maduro, presidents of Argentina and Venezuela respectively.
Eight hours by plane plus an hour and a half by bus along a winding road. This will be River’s roadmap until it reaches Venezuela. Why was there no way to travel directly by plane? Because Venezuela has a restriction in force that prohibits Argentine-registered planes from flying over Venezuelan airspace. This is in retaliation for the seizure of a Boeing 747 cargo plane that was later turned over to United States authorities. Although President Javier Milei already initiated diplomatic actions, they could not ignore the differences and cancel the measure, so River was forced to go through this journey in the wrong direction.
Missing
In the list of those called up to play with Aurinegro, the absences of Agustín Ruberto and Franco Mastantuono were noted. However, the most sensitive is that of the center forward, because the squad does not have another reference attacker with characteristics similar to those of Miguel Ángel Borja.
Ruberto added minutes in the first six games of the League Cup and has not played for a month. In the midst of all that, had to suffer from dengue fever and he missed some mandatory matches, although last Friday he was on the squad list against Huracán.
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However, he stayed outside the bench in Parque Patricios and on this occasion, thinking about the match with Táchira, He was not directly called up and goalkeeper Lucas Lavagnino took his place. The decision once again caused surprise among the fans, who have been asking that Ruberto have more filming, but it not only has to do with something that the coaching staff saw regarding his current physique.
The intention is that, if fit, the attacker can play from the start in the Reserve superclassic that will be played on Thursday at the River Camp against Boca.
In Mastantuonola’s situation it is a little more complex. He suffered a muscle strain in the defeat against Independiente Rivadavia and is still not 100 percent physically. That was why the coach decided to favor the presence of Agustín Palavecino and Manuel Lanzini to replace the youth player with the highest termination clause in Argentine football.
The squad
The players that make up the team that traveled to Venezuela are: Archers: Franco Armani Ezequiel Centurion; Lucas Lavagnino. Defenders: Sebastian Boselli; Agustín Sant’Anna; Andrés Herrera; Paulo Díaz; Daniel Zabala David Martínez; Leandro González Pirez; Enzo Díaz; Milton Casco. Midfielders: Santiago Simón; Matías Kranevitter; Rodrigo Villagra; Nicolás Fonseca; Rodrigo Aliendro; Agustín Palavecino; Nacho Fernández; Manuel Lanzini; Claudio Echeverri; Esequiel Barco. Fronts: Pablo Solari; Facundo Colidio and Miguel Borja.
Source: Ambito
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