A historical feast at the Monumental River was a machine: it crushed Jorge Wilstermann 8-0 to turn the game around and passed to semifinals of the Copa Libertadores. Scocco, the star of the match, scored five goals. The rest were scored by Enzo Pérez -2- and Nacho Fernández.

  • Share

What a night! What a relief! What an amazing clarity that of Marcelo Gallardo, always showing tranquility, temperance and a firm belief in the achievement since the very beginning: he put an unprecedented team in the field and that team more than satisfied his expectations, and thus raised even more the figure of one of the best coaches in the Club’s history.

River made its presence known since the beginning, starting with the magnificent welcome from the fans. Nacho Fernández warned with a shot before the first minute and then Gonzalo Martínez shot a free kick that went very close to Raúl Olivares’ right goalpost, but this was only the foretaste of the gale of football and goals that would arrive soon.

The first pearl by Ignacio Scocco arrived after a long-ball from Leonardo Ponzio: the forward avoided a rival with a nutmeg, left the goalkeeper in the way and scored the goal. Four minutes later, the 11 screamed once again: he received a center shot from Carlos Auzqui, controlled it, got ready and struck a right kick for the 2-0.

With its hope more alive than ever and with Gallardo’s harangue, River kept playing and after 19 minutes it achieved the 3-0 to even the series: Scocco received on the right, kicked a low center that crossed the area and squeezed into Olivares’ left goalpost. El Millonario went further and after 36 minutes, the Monumental shuddered with Enzo Pérez’s spectacular goal: after a magnificent assist from Scocco, the midfielder waited and shot high to shout it with his life and soul, the same as all the Stadium.

In the second half, River left no room for doubts: before the first minute, Scocco shouted his fourth goal after a great play between Nacho Fernández and Gonzalo Montiel. Since then, everything was a historical feast in Núñez that will be remembered for a long time.

The football show continued with a score by Nacho Fernández with a low shot after a rebound in the area, the fifth unstoppable shout of Scocco, after a mistake from the goalkeeper, and a work of art by Enzo Pérez, who commanded a counterattack, avoided rivals and made a soft, first-class definition.

El Millonario had a glorious night and gained access to a new semifinal of an international tournament. In the next round, River will wait for the winner of the match between San Lorenzo and Lanús, that will be disputed this Thursday in the South after the 2-0 achieved by the people of Boedo in the first match

SYNTHESIS

RIVER PLATE: Germán Lux; Gonzalo Montiel, Jonatan Maidana, Javier Pinola; Ignacio Fernández, Enzo Pérez, Leonardo Ponzio (C), Ariel Rojas; Gonzalo Martínez, Ignacio Scocco and Carlos Auzqui. Coach: Marcelo Gallardo.
Substitutes: Augusto Batalla, Jorge Moreira, Milton Casco, Alexander Barboza, Iván Rossi, Tomás
Andrade and Rafael Borré.
Substitutions: Borré for Scocco, Casco for Pérez, Andrade for Auzqui.


JORGE WILSTERMANN: Raúl Olivares; Jorge Ortiz, Enrique Díaz, Alex Silva, Edward Zenteno (C); Juan Aponte, Christian Machado, Fernando Saucedo, Serginho; Rudy Cardozo and Gilbert Álvarez. Coach: Roberto Mosquera.
Substitutes: Alex Arancibia, Jorge Ayala, Daniel Mancilla, Carlinhos, Martín Bergese, Cristian Chávez and Ricardo Pedriel.
Substitutions: Chávez for Aponte, Mancilla for Díaz, Bergese for Serginho.

Goals: Scocco -5-, Pérez -2-, Fernández (RP).
Booked: Pérez (RP); Machado, Chávez, Silva, Serginho (JW).
Referee: Julio Bascuñán (Chile).
Assistant referees: Rául Orellana and Carlos Astroza (Chile).
Fourth Official: Patricio Polic (Chile).

Photo gallery

Related news

01/09/2025 River wins convincingly and stays on top
29/08/2025 With a brilliant Armani, River advances on penalties
26/08/2025 River let it slip at the end
21/08/2025 River beats Libertad to advance to quarterfinals