River Plate
, with an irregular performance at the start of the Professional
Football
League (LPF) Cup , will host
Vélez Sarsfield
tomorrow , continuing the third date of zone A.
The match will be played from 7:15 p.m., at the Más Monumental stadium, with arbitration by Facundo Tello on the field and by Nicolás Lamolina in the VAR, and broadcast by ESPN Premium.
River has four points at the start of the championship after a victory over Barracas Central (2-0), as a visitor, and a draw at home with Argentinos Juniors (1-1).
On the other hand, Vélez will arrive with one due to the initial equality with Barracas Central (1-1) and the subsequent fall with Independiente (1-0).
River's path was conditioned at the beginning by the lack of reinforcements, something that was only unlocked this week with the hiring of Rodrigo Villagra (Talleres de Córdoba) and Agustín Sant' Anna (Defense and Justice), and by the injuries of Milton Casco, Facundo Colidio, Agustín Palavecino and Matías Kranevitter, and the absence of the Uruguayan Sebastián Boselli - affected by the Venezuelan Pre-Olympic Games -.
Vélez is going for recovery.
Photo: Marcelo Carroll.
The positive thing for the coach, Martín Demichelis, is that Colidio and Palavecino have already left their muscular overloads behind and will be available for this new appointment.
In this context, the performance of Martín Demichelis' team left more doubts than certainties, despite the fact that the points harvest was contradicted by the individual hierarchy of its players, as happened with Barracas when Franco Armani kept the score zero with several interventions and on the closing found the way to victory thanks to the youth Agustín Ruberto - author of a goal.
And although there are still too many new ones in relation to the knowledge of Demichelis' idea and the functioning of his teammates, Agustín Sant' Anna already practiced this Friday and Rodrigo Villagra will do so on Saturday afternoon, so the roster was expanded to a questioned coach, despite the two titles obtained last season (Professional Football League and Argentine Super Cup) and the victories in the two Superclásicos of 2023 (1 to 0 in the Monumental and 2 to 0 in La Bombonera).
The only doubts, which will be resolved in the last practice, are related to the return of Facundo Colidio in place of Franco Mastantuono and whether Ignacio Fernández rests, given the string of games that lies ahead.
Martín Demichelis trusts the River kids.
Photo: ALEJANDRO PAGNI / AFP.
For its part, Vélez deserved a little better luck, at least on the second date against Independiente, since it suffered a defeat in a match where it earned a draw in the reunion with its fans.
And in his debut with Barracas he started in great shape but deflated as the minutes passed and they matched him fairly.
For this match everything would indicate that Vélez will repeat the same players from the beginning, due to the conformity of the level shown.
That is why they will maintain the 4-2-3-1 system with Brian Romero as the only striker and with Claudio Aquino as the midfielder arriving together with Matías Pellegrini and Lenny Lobato.
In relation to the transfer market, Gustavo Quinteros' team continues to look for players and the target is the Uruguayan striker Michael Santos, currently in Mexican football and with an excellent time at Talleres de Córdoba, although so far they have not managed to get the numbers closer to advance in the transfer.
Santos has one goal in 10 games played in the Mexican League with the Ciudad Juárez entity.
Vélez will also try to replace the departure of the youth Santiago Castro, transferred to Bologna of the Italian Serie A, for an amount close to 12 million euros.
In another order, the Liniers team made official today the departure of Uruguayan defender Matías De los Santos, who terminated his contract and will continue his career at Peñarol de Montevideo, which will extend his contract for two seasons.
= Possible formations =
River Plate: Franco Armani;
Andrés Herrera, Leandro González Pírez, Paulo Díaz and Enzo Díaz;
Rodrigo Aliendro and Nicolás Fonseca;
Ignacio Fernández, Esequiel Barco and Franco Mastantuono or Facundo Colidio;
Miguel Borja.
DT: Martín Demichelis.
Vélez Sarsfield: Tomás Marchiori;
Leonardo Jara, Emanuel Mammana, Valentin Gómez and Elías Gómez;
Santiago Cáseres and José Florentín;
Matías Pellegrini, Claudio Aquino and Lenny Lobato;
Brian Romero.
DT: Gustavo Quinteros.
Referee: Facundo Tello.
VAR: Nicolás Lamolina.
Court: More Monumental.
Time: 7:15 p.m.
TV: ESPN Premium.
FOOTBALL LPF RIVER VÉLEZ