Revived River indebted to final opponents
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Then, with three minutes and 30 seconds left on the clock, Teofilo Gutierrez tucked home a rebound to cut the deficit and trigger an unlikely comeback, which was completed by Rodrigo Mora’s stunning volley into the top corner with just 40 seconds remaining. Seemingly out of contention a few short minutes earlier, River had suddenly opened up a route to the Round of 16.
“That comeback was a little sign for us,” said Millonarios coach Marcelo Gallardo, who has since seen his side fight their way through to the final, where, as fate would have it, they are again engaged in battle with Tigres, the side that let them off the hook in the group phase. And with the two teams locked at 0-0 ahead of Wednesday’s decisive second leg in Buenos Aires, River look well placed to end their 19-year wait for glory in the competition.
The fact is that the Mexican outfit had a very big hand in River’s qualification for the knockout phase. A week after their late escape act at the Estadio Universitario, Los Millonarios entertained San Jose of Bolivia. Their hopes of progressing depended on them taking maximum points in that match and on group winners Tigres also beating Juan Aurich in Peru, though a draw in Chiclayo may also have been enough for River, depending on goal difference.
“If you’ve got the chance to kill off a team like River, then you’ve got to take it,” said more than one ex-player on one of South America’s TV channels, intimating that Tigres should box clever and ensure the elimination of one of their potential rivals for the title. And when Tigres coach Ricardo Ferretti announced that he would be taking a second-string side to Peru, many felt that is exactly what the Mexican side would do.
Boca followers does River a favour
River did what they had to do by shooting into a 3-0 lead against their Bolivian opponents, prompting the fans to devote their attention to their radios and events in Chiclayo instead of the action on the pitch. To the delight of the River faithful, Tigres did their bit by winning a thrilling game 5-4, with Enrique Esqueda scoring a hat-trick, a feat grateful Millonarios fans still talk about today.
“My favourite Argentinian team is Boca Juniors, but I don’t regret what I did,” Esqueda told newspaper Olé. “We knew that we could come up against them again later in the competition, though we never thought it would be in the final.
“I think beating River in the final would mean an awful lot more. We’d be making history twice for Mexico: defeating River and winning the Libertadores.”
Once a River youth product and now a Tigres idol, Damian Alvarez also took pride from his side’s belief in fair play. “We silenced a lot of people," he said of their victory in Peru. "We never had any doubts. It was a game we always wanted to win."
Gallardo is rightly proud of his side’s form since they squeezed through to the Round of 16 with the worst record of all the second-placed teams: “We suffered more than we should have and we only got in through the back door, but they’re going to have to put up with us now.”
In winning the Copa Sudamericana 2014, River showed exactly what they are capable of in the knockout rounds of major competitions, scoring eight wins and two draws in their five ties, which included a high-octane semi-final defeat of Boca Juniors.
River have reprised that form in this year’s Libertadores, despite being the away side in each of the second legs of their ties. After defeating Round-of-16 opponents Boca for the second time in five months – a first for River in South American competitions – they went on to dispose of Cruzeiro in the last eight and Guarani in the semis. Their only reverse in those six matches was a 1-0 loss at home to Cruzeiro, a setback they avenged with a stunning 3-0 win in Belo Horizonte - a result which booked them a place at the FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2015.
Gallardo said: “These players have got a real competitive streak. When those kinds of games come along they get even stronger. This is a unique opportunity for us.”
It is an opportunity made possible by that unlikely four-minute comeback and the integrity of the side that now stands between them and a coveted third Libertadores title.