The Colombian Juan Fernando Quintero received a medical discharge for the tear in the left hamstring, and will be available to play in River Plate against Colo Colo from Chile, next Thursday at the Monumental, for the fifth date of the group stage of the Cup Liberators.
The hitch suffered the muscle injury in the run-up to River’s match against Talleres de Córdoba on April 20 when he was going to start and, after completing three weeks of recovery, he returned to training alongside the rest to be available to the DT Marcelo Gallardo.
Although Quintero was not a starter in the team, he had become a key piece for Gallardo, in the second half substitution, scoring five goals in just over 300 minutes on the pitch as a result of 13 appearances, of which ten were from the bank.
The return of Juanfer gives Gallardo one more alternative for assembling the team to play against Colo Colo, with the possibility not only of securing qualification for the Libertadores round of 16 but also achieving the best first place.
On the other hand, the coach will not be able to count on Enzo Pérez, who must serve a suspension date due to the accumulation of yellow cards, so Bruno Zuculini is emerging as a replacement in the central midfield area.
As for the rest of the team, the coach will carry out tactical work prior to the match against the Chileans and changes in the formation are not ruled out after the heavy defeat in the quarterfinals of the Professional League against Tigre on Wednesday of last week by 2- one.
River will seek to add two local wins in the closing of the group, against Colo Colo and Alianza Lima from Peru, on May 25, to advance to the round of 16 with a high score that allows better conditions in the defining phases of the Libertadores that They are played in the last week of June.
As for attacker MatÃas Suárez, who suffered a muscle strain in his right soleus before traveling to Fortaleza on May 4, he continues with differentiated tasks and could be available to add minutes against Alianza Lima but they could take care of him for the start of the second semester. .
After these two games that River has left to play, the squad will have only a few days off since the local tournament begins on June 5 and the Copa Libertadores round of 16 match is scheduled for June 28 and July 5.