La Derecha Diario River hosts Barcelona in an empty Monumental: history, time, TV, and line-ups
El Millonario wants to take the lead in Group B, but faces a tough opponent that also won its first match
River will face Barcelona de Guayaquil this Tuesday, for the second matchday of the Copa Libertadores group stage. The match will take place at the Estadio Monumental, although it will be played without any fans, as CONMEBOL sanctioned the club after the reception against Atlético Mineiro for excessive use of fireworks and flares, and of course racism.
The Núñez team comes from a 1-1 draw against Sarmiento, once again showing a performance that causes concern among the fans. However, their reality in the Copa is different, as they defeated Universitario without much trouble as visitors by 1-0, with a goal from the Chilean Paulo Díaz. They will arrive at this commitment with just two training sessions, after having played on Saturday in Junín.
Meanwhile, the Ecuadorian team will arrive with more rest because they didn't play their local championship match over the weekend. They were scheduled to face Liga de Quito, but since both teams had international commitments and a busy schedule, the match was postponed. In the Libertadores, they debuted with a 1-0 victory over Independiente del Valle at home, with an early goal from Bryan Carabalí.
Last encounter between both and the history
River and Barcelona will meet again after 35 years. The last time they faced each other was in the 1990 Libertadores semifinals, where the Argentine team was eliminated 4-3 on penalties in Guayaquil, after a 1-1 aggregate draw (1-0 in the first leg and 0-1 in the return leg).
As an additional fact, this last match caused so much controversy that River's officials protested to Conmebol and questioned their continuity in the following editions of the international tournament, which ultimately didn't happen.
The Millionaire and the Idol only played two more times against each other, in the Group Stage of the 1986 edition. Both matches ended in victories for the Núñez team, the first 0-3 as visitors and the second 4-1 at the Monumental. With these results, River leads the history with 3 victories, against a single win for Barcelona.
Time and TV
River will face Barcelona de Ecuador at the Monumental this Tuesday, April 8 at 9:30 PM. The match will be broadcast on Disney+ in streaming and can also be seen on Fox Sports and Telefé.
Possible Lineups
River (4-4-2):
- Goalkeeper: Franco Armani
- Defenders: Gonzalo Montiel, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Paulo Díaz, and Marcos Acuña
- Midfielders: Enzo Pérez, Kevin Castaño, Maximiliano Meza, Franco Mastantuono
- Forwards: Sebastián Driussi and Facundo Colidio
- Coach: Marcelo Gallardo
Barcelona de Guayaquil (4-5-1):
- Goalkeeper: José Contreras
- Defenders: Bryan Carabalí, Xavier Arreaga, Gustavo Vallecilla, and Aníbal Chalá
- Midfielders: Dixon Arroyo, Jhonny Quiñónez, Janner Corozo, Joaquín Valiente, Christian Solano/Jesús Trindade
- Forwards: Octavio Romero
- Coach: Segundo Castillo
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