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ESRiver turns first leg match around With two goals from Pablo Solari in the second half, River beat Brazil’s Internacional 2-1 at the Mâs Monumental stadium, in the CONMEBOL Libertadores round of 16, increasing its home win rate.
On a vibrant Cup night at home, River dominated throughout the first ten minutes and created three goal scoring opportunities: first, Nacho Fernández sent a header over the bar, off a cross from Nicolás De La Cruz. Then, the Uruguayan midfielder struck a volley that missed the goal; and finally, Lucas Beltrán struck a shot that was saved by Sergio Rochet. Inter threatened River’s goal with a bicycle kick from Enner Valencia off a series of rebounds in the box.
River kept going, with good connections on the opponent's half of the field and penetrating runs up the wings, with overlapping runs by Nacho and De La Cruz. Rodrigo Aliendro also struck a long-range shot that went high. River had one of the clearest opportunities when Beltrán tapped the ball directly to De La Cruz, but No. 11 couldn't strike comfortably. On the last play, Valencia headed a cross from Alan Patrick and opened the scoring for the Brazilian team.
At the start of the second half, Esequiel Barco set up a great individual play and struck a low right-footed shot that Rochet saved by his left post. Next, the keeper made a save on a powerful left-footed shot from De La Cruz. Rochet prevented River from scoring the equalizer for a third consecutive time when he saved a right-footed shot from Barco aimed at one corner. River’s persistence paid off, when Pablo Solari, who had come onto the field a few minutes before, scored the well-deserved equalizer with a great cross shot.
The team managed by Demichelis’s kept pressing, not leaving room for Inter to play, and threatening with medium-range shots. Finally, around the 79th minute, Beltrán set up Solari, who slipped upfield again and struck a great shot-on-goal when Rochet came off his line, setting the score at 2-1. Thanks to this win, River now holds a winning streak of 15 games at the Mâs Monumental stadium. Next week, the team will seek qualification for the quarter-finals at the Beira-Rio stadium.
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