River was thrashed 5-1 by Fluminense on their visit to the Maracaná stadium, for the third date of Group D of the Copa Libertadores. With this result, he would be staying out of the competition, but he remains in South American positions.
With the three goals from Germán Cano and two from Jhon Arias, Fluminense beat River by a landslide with controversial refereeing by Esteban Ostojich, who let the Brazilians hit at various times during the game, and ended the match with many complaints from the players visitors.
At minute 30, midfielder Keno made a great play and enabled Argentine striker Cano to make it 1-0, against a weak defense from Martín Demichelis’s team.
But 10 minutes later, River pushed Fluminense in their own half and, led by the Uruguayan Nicolás De La Cruz on the right, enabled the striker Beltrán, who defined above, close to the crossbar, for the partial 1-1.
The visitor had started the match better, but an unexpected counterattack found the defense in a bad spot, and once again Cano scored the second goal for Fluminense.
This local goal overwhelmed the Argentine team and they became more and more nervous as the minutes passed, until Leandro González Pirez, cautioned in the first half, pushed and saw the second yellow for the expulsion of the center-back.
After his departure, the River coach improvised a line of three defenders, which was taken advantage of by Alexsander, who advanced and gave the ball to Arias, who got clear and made it 3-1.
At the end of the game, against a dedicated River without opposition, Arias overflowed again on the right, with great ease, and sent a cross for the arrival of Cano and his hat-trick for 4-1. Arias completed the win with a cross definition for the final 5-1.
The defeat comes at the least expected moment for River, which next Sunday will face nothing less than the Superclásico against Boca, at the Monumental stadium.
The squad will return to Buenos Aires today at noon from Brazil to train for that game, with a test for the injured Paulo Díaz and with the incorporation of the youthful Claudio Echeverri. The Chilean Díaz suffered a muscle strain in the left femoral biceps against Independiente, which prevented him from playing against Atlético Tucumán and last night against Fluminense, and in the next 48 hours they will test him to see if he can play against Boca on Sunday.