Copa Libertadores 2009: River Plate 1 – 0 Nacional de Paraguay

By: Christian | February 13th, 2009

River Plate 1 - 0 Nacional de Paraguay

Photo courtesy LPM

Diego Buonanotte may have scored the goal, and new signing Cristian Fabbiani may have provided the assist, but luck and a near-sighted linesmen were the real heroes last night at the Monumental, as River barely squeezed out a 1-0 victory against Paraguay’s Nacional in Game 1 of the 2009 Copa Libertadores.

It’s difficult to be feel good after last night’s win with River not leaving much of an impression. For much of the first half River were well out of sorts, with absent performances from many of the starters, most notably Matías Abelairas, Mauro Rosales, whose value to the team I’m really beginning to question, and newcomer Gustavo Fernández. The few shots on goal that River were able to produce were expertly saved by Nacional keeper Ignacio Don who had a superb night.

It wasn’t until the second half, and the inclusion of new reinforcement Cristian Fabbiani that River began to show some sign of life. After a prolonged effort to bring the Newell’s striker during the summer break, el Ogro was River’s most dynamic player on the night, and he immediately lifted the team and the spirit of the crowd, many of whom chanted his name even before he began to warm up. Despite his girth (he is one chunky brother), Fabbiani displayed a great touch and skill with the ball. Replays on the eventual goal in the 90th minute showed Fabbiani first handling the ball to bring it down, and Buonanotte clearly offside as he struck the net, but neither the referee nor the linesman called it back, and River stole a victory from the certain jaws of a 0-0 result.

It may too early in the campaign to be critical of River for their performance. It was their first game in the group, and clearly Pipo Gorosito is still getting used to his squad. But two games into the new season, I’m still a little uninspired by what I’ve seen. Can you blame me though for being impatient?

But for now, I’ll take whatever luck I can get, because certainly it has not been on our side the past few months. I will move on, and so will River, who face Rosario Central this Sunday.

2009 Copa Libertadores, Group 3 – Game 1

Scoring Summary:
Diego Buonanotte (RP), 56th

River Plate:
Juan Marcelo Ojeda
Paulo Ferrari, Gustavo Cabral, Nicolás Sánchez, Cristian Villagra
Augusto Fernández, Oscar Ahumada, Matías Abelairas
Diego Buonanotte
Mauro Rosales, Gustavo Fernández

Substitutions:
Robert Flores for Rosales, 46th
Cristian Fabbiani for Fernández, 59th
Nicolás Domingo for Buonanotte, 92nd

Highlights