River drew in the first leg of the Round of 16 El Millonario was not able to score off the clear chances it had in the first half and drew 1-1 against Argentinos Juniors at the Monumental Stadium.

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In its CONMEBOL Libertadores comeback, River Plate welcomed Argentinos Juniors and tried to take the lead from the beginning. Milton Casco ran up the left side and fired a cross that found the newcomer Braian Romero, who fired a header that was saved by the keeper.

In the following play, Paulo Diaz made a long and precise pass to Romero, who adjusted it with a header, handled the defensive pressure, and assisted Matias Suarez, who set the score at 1-0. River was dominating the match and was close to scoring the second goal: Diaz failed to powerfully head the ball off a corner kick; then, Julian Alvarez made an overlapping run and fired a cross, whose rebound was caught by Suarez, but he wasn’t able to control the ball after a dive by Lucas Chaves.

Suarez had a leading role in another clear play by crossing the ball with his left foot off a good pass from Gonzalo Montiel, but the keeper saved it. However, in one of its few attempts to advance the ball, Argentinos evened the score thanks to a header by Gabriel Hauche. Toward the end of the first half, David Martinez was not able to locate any teammate, after a long assist by Enzo Perez, and his header was cleared by the rival defense.

In the second half, River found it difficult to threaten the rival goal, even though it possessed the ball and tried to attack from the sides. Nicolas De La Cruz took a dangerous free kick, but he fired a deflected shot. Then, Romero had his chance by means of a good individual play on the right side, but he missed well over Argentinos Juniors’s goal. Federico Girotti also tried to score with a deflected right-footed shot.

El Millonario’s defense was mostly undisturbed and the opposing team practically didn’t attack Franco Armani’s goal. The second leg will be played next week, in La Paternal, where River will have to go for the win, a 1-1 draw followed by a penalty shootout, or a draw with more goals scored by River as the away team. Meanwhile, on Sunday, River will play the local tournament match against Colon at the Monumental Stadium.

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