Club Atlético River Plate's three-match winning streak came to an end with a 2-1 home defeat to Huracán at the Monumental stadium. The loss, which marked the interim debut of Leonardo Ponzio in the dugout, pushed the team out of the top eight in the Liga Profesional Argentina standings.
The night started with two early injuries that disrupted the game plan. Thiago Almada suffered a left quadriceps injury after just four minutes, and Santiago Andrada had to be substituted with a muscular problem at the 35-minute mark. Making only three substitutions throughout the match, River proved inefficient in both boxes, registering 20 shots with only three on target.
A goal in two halves
Huracán took the lead in the ninth minute through a free-kick from Osmar Cortés that found its way in untouched. River equalised in the second half thanks to a powerful long-range strike from Tomás Galván, their top scorer this season with six goals in 29 appearances. However, with ten minutes remaining, a defensive lapse allowed Lucas Blondel to score the winner following a pass from Cortés.
The team had chances to at least salvage a point. Germán Martínez Quarta headed over the bar, Lucas Beltrán sent another header wide, and Sebastián Driussi missed a clear late opportunity. The defeat confirms a worrying statistic: River have not come from behind to win a match since November 2024.
Table consequences
The result leaves River Plate in ninth place in the league table with 13 points from ten games. The team now sits five points behind leaders Argentinos Juniors and has conceded 12 goals while scoring 13.
The loss significantly complicates the club's objectives in the Annual Table, the system that determines continental qualification. After starting the Clausura tournament with four consecutive defeats, the team seemed to have found a steadier course, but this stumble at home brings back uncertainty. Whistles from a section of the crowd at full-time reflected the discontent.
Juan Sebastián Verón, former footballer and an Argentine football icon, recently reflected on the power of institutions. "Clubs have a strength that no politician has," he stated. It is a strength River Plate urgently needs to channel to get their season back on track.
The immediate outlook is not straightforward. With the injuries to Almada and Andrada, which occurred after national team call-ups, Ponzio will have to reconfigure his midfield and defence for the next fixture. River will visit fourth-placed Sarmiento de Junín on October 4th.
More detail at La Nacion AR Deportes
Interim manager Leonardo Ponzio confirmed that Saturday's defeat to Huracán extended a negative streak. "River's last victory against Huracán at the Monumental was on November 27, 2016," the club stated. The team, ninth in the Liga Profesional with 13 points, has not managed to beat Huracán at home in nearly a decade.
River Plate captain Nicolás Otamendi criticized the defeat against Huracán. "We unfairly lost a match in which we created situations, we had the ball, maybe with some inaccuracies, but we had great chances to score," Otamendi said. The club is second in the Argentine Professional League with 29 points after 16 games.
