The VAR gives it to you and the VAR takes it
In 2018, River Plate returned memorably to Brazil and reached the final of the CONMEBOL Libertadores Cup with the help of a controversial penalty awarded by VAR against Gremio. On Tuesday, the call for video assistance to the referee was the main opponent of the Argentine giants, while they failed to complete the rescue operation. After losing 3-0 at home to Brazilian club Palmeiras last week, River won the second round 2-0, and there could have been some complaints in the review if they had scored enough goals to reach the final.
Feeling a huge relief, Palmeiras will now be able to spend as in 1999 – when he previously won the competition – waiting for the winner of the other semifinal between his local rivals Santos and the Argentine team Boca Juniors.
Palmeiras flirted with the disaster, and much of it was his responsibility. The coach, Abel Ferreira, kept the system he used in the first leg – It worked in Buenos Aires, although his team tried their luck in the first half. However, it was not the right choice for this party. Right-back Marcos Rocha was especially good as a central defender on the right, a role that doesn’t suit him very well. Under pressure – Palmeiras spent most of the game under pressure – he was left with a bottom of five, leaning back in his counterattack ability, but seeing himself lacking possession as River aimed to get the ball back wears. Palmeiras was caught offside in the middle of the pitch, allowing River to accelerate. And, like last week, he leaned to his right, giving too much space to River’s right-wing predator, Gonzalo Montiel.
There were brief dangerous flashes from Palmeiras’ attackers, Luiz Adriano and Rony, but River spent most of the match passing through the Brazilian midfield, and from the start the home team’s defense spread far and wide. .
River managed to score two goals before the break. Central defender Robert Rojas headed in a corner kick, and later Nico De La Cruz had a cross that Matías Suárez hung on so that Rafael Santos Borré got behind Rocha and scored. second.
At the break, Ferreira eliminated the attacking midfielder Gustavo Scarpa and brought Breno Lopes, giving a clear message that his intention was to defend and take advantage of the counterattack.
But that never happened.
It was one-way traffic, and shortly after the restart, River equalized the overall score – or so it seemed at the time.. It was a left-footed shot, where Fabrizio Angileri headed a goal that Montiel hit with a volley. And then the VAR show started. After a long wait, due to an offside discovered in a previous move, the goal was invalidated.
As the game started to slip away for River, Ferreira finally tucked the ball home. He tried to lift the ball over Gabriel Menino but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. This stirred the tide and the problem seems to have turned decisively in Palmeiras ‘favor in the last 20 minutes when River suffered Rojas’ expulsion. This was another controversial decision, but it was not one determined by the VAR. Rojas’s second yellow card was more of a weird one than a cynical foul, but Uruguayan referee Esteban Ostojich turned red. Palmeiras had amassed cards and some players, especially midfielder Danilo, were on the line. But River was the team that found one less, playing with 10.
Surprisingly, it didn’t make a difference in the approach to the game. Palmeiras is more comfortable in the fast break – last week, they didn’t take advantage of half an hour against a team of 10, when they could have defined the game – but they were pushed down anyway. Soon a penalty came for River, Suárez falling in front of Alan Empereur’s attack. Montiel was preparing to kick when VAR intervened and established, perhaps correctly, that there was little or no contact and that Suarez fell earlier, looking for the foul.
But River continued. Weverton in goal Palmeiras was busy and when he was overtaken at the post, he was lucky to have a man on the line who could save him.
There was time for more controversy with the VAR in the 10th minute of overtime. Santos Borré was left behind as substitute defender Benjamin Kuscevic and fell unpleasantly. He was clumsy. But was it a foul? The referee turned to the screen again.
A very important definition is to be taken, but, no doubt, to ease the referee, another offside was discovered at the beginning of the game, and Palmeiras, although he hit, managed to escape. Your chance for glory will come on January 30th.
On Tuesday night, however, most of the glory went to River Plate. If this becomes the end – as has been so much speculated – of the six and a half years of the reign of the coach, Marcelo Gallardo, then he will leave with very good results, regretting that there could not have been a little more to finish. at the top tonight.