RIVER SEEKS THE WORLD GLORY AGAINST BARCELONA

In Osaka, River took the first step looking for its dream: in the Club World Cup semifinal, it defeated Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-0. El millonario had to work hard to beat the Japanese champion, but it finally did it in the second half thanks to a header by Alario, and it got, deservedly, the ticket to the final.

River started pressing on the rival field and it was the owner of the ball. Although it was hard for River to translate that dominance in clear situations, the team looked for spaces with patience and attemped with shots from middle range. However, after the minute 25, the Japanese team had the clearest situations due to its speed in the counterattacks. Barovero notable interventions frustrated a goal by Minagawa, then to Chajima and finally to Kashiwa. On the side of el Millonario, the best chance of the first half was a header by Sánchez, but the referee saw him in offside.

At the beginning of the second half, Mora received a pass from Sánchez and he almost score the first goal for River, but his shot went too high. Then, Lucho Gonzalez came up with new ideas and gave greater depth to the team, which also began to threaten by the sides, especially with fast offensives by Mercado.

In the minute 25 of the second half, the expected goal arrived: Viudez looked for the area in a free shot, the goalkeeper rejected the ball and there, always ready to appear in decisive moments, Alario, with a header, scored the goal that would unleash the joy and relief of all River.

Thus came the end: with the celebration of thousands of fans who made the Osaka Nagai stadium to resemble the Monumental and millions of River Plate fans who cheered the team from around the world. Gallardo's team took the first step in Japan and the illusion of glory is more alive than ever.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima: TakutoHayashi; ShoSasaki, Kazuhiko Chiba, TsukasaShiotani; YoshifumiKashiwa, KoheiShimizu; ToshihiroAoyama (C), YusukeChajima, KayuzukiMorisaki; YusukeMinagawa and Douglas. Substitutes: HirokiMizumoto, Hisato Sato, TakuyaMasuda, MihaelMikic, SatoruYamagishi, RyotaroHironaga, TakuyaMarutani, TakumaAsano, Soya TakahashiKazuyaMiyahara, GakutoNotsuda and KoseiShibasaki. Coach: Moriyasu.

RiverPlate: Marcelo Barvero; Gabriel Mercado, JonatanMaidana, Éder Álvarez Balanta, Leonel Vangioni; Carlos Sánchez, Matías Kranevitter, Leonardo Ponzio; Leonardo Pisculichi; Rodrigo Mora and Lucas Alario. Substitutes: Julio Chiarini, Augusto Batalla, Emanuel Mammana, Leandro Vega, Milton Casco, Camilo Mayada Nicolás Bertolo, Luis González, Sebastián Driussi, Gonzalo Martínez, Tabaré Viudez, Javier Saviola. Coach: Marcelo Gallardo.

Changes: Mikic for Kashiwa, Asano for Minagawa, Sato by Chajima (SH); González by Ponzio, Viudez by Pisculichi, Mayada by Mercado (RP).

Cautioned: Chiba, Kashiwa, Shiotani (SH); Mercado, ÁlvarezBalanta (RP).
Referee: Jonas Eriksson. Assistants: Klasenius Mathias and Daniel Wärnmark (all from Sweden)

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First Team

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