River lost 1-2 to Palmeiras, but it still dreams of remaining in the Copa Libertadores.

River had a night that went from less to more at the Más Monumental against Palmeiras. In the first leg of the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals, the Millonario lost 1-2 to Verdao, although it still holds out hope to turn things around in Brazil.

In the opening moments of the match, both teams shared possession; however, in just 5 minutes, Verdao would take the lead with a goal by Gustavo Gómez with a header after the corner taken by Andreas Pereira.

After the goal, the visiting team began to dominate the game, stringing together several consecutive passes and creating some very clear chances at Franco Armani's goal, one of them hitting the post after a header by Lucas Evangelista in the 20th minute. This situation began to unsettle the Millonario, which showed serious defensive miscoordination and broke up the opponent's play with several avoidable fouls that resulted in early yellow cards.

As the minutes went by, River gradually managed to regain prominence in the match; nevertheless, Palmeiras would once again demonstrate its offensive power and would go up 0-2 near the end of the first half thanks to a goal by Vitor Roque in the 41st minute.

In the second half, Marcelo Gallardo made changes from the bench and made two substitutions: Juanfer Quintero for Enzo Pérez and Lucas Martínez Quarta for Paulo Díaz. Minutes later, Muñeco was forced to bring on Facundo Colidio due to Sebastián Driussi's injury.

With the need to chase the result and fresh legs from the substitutions, the Millonario managed to get a bit more oxygen and began to show more presence in attack, although without effective chances or saves from goalkeeper Weverton. Meanwhile, for Verdao, Gustavo Gómez was one of the main figures in defense to stop the home team's attacks.

Near the end, the Núñez team got its hopes up with a penalty after Weverton's foul on Montiel, but VAR did not award it due to a previous offside. However, the long-awaited goal to reduce the deficit would finally come minutes later thanks to a goal by Martínez Quarta in the 88th minute, but it did not have time to tie the match.

With the tie still open, River will try to achieve the epic comeback in the second leg, next Wednesday, September 24 at the Allianz Parque in São Paulo.