Gallardo reshapes River’s line-up against Sarmiento amid several absences | OneFootball

Marcelo Gallardo enters the final stage of assembling a puzzle: River's starting eleven to face Sarmiento. Without the six players called up for the FIFA date (plus Ian Subiabre to the U-20) and the suspended Juan Portillo, the coaching staff is forced to innovate and make more changes than desired to a team that the "Muñeco" described as "depleted."

The moment for the "Millonario" is far from ideal to face this scenario where they lose a significant number of players for a crucial match, mainly considering the annual table and the qualification for the Copa Libertadores, where they are third after the defeat to Rosario Central.

With little margin for error in this aspect, as they are fourth in the Torneo Clausura but at a considerable distance from the pursuers looking to break into the top 8, Gallardo will have to devise a formation with the best available. The good news, within this adverse scenario, is that this Wednesday the Disciplinary Tribunal reduced Maximiliano Salas's suspension by one match, allowing him to be a starter on Sunday.

Besides the left-footer, optimism reigns in Núñez to have Enzo Pérez back, the captain, whose presence becomes much more valuable given the few options Gallardo has for the central midfielder position. The stitches have been removed from his knee, and he will be pushed in the coming days with the aim of regaining rhythm and being able to play against Sarmiento. If he doesn't make it, Agustín de la Cuesta will be the number 5.

The other case at River to closely follow in these hours is that of Sebastián Driussi, still not cleared from the tear in his left hamstring suffered in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals against Palmeiras, but with chances of being called up again. After almost three weeks of differentiated work and five games absent, the forward is about to get the medical clearance, and his call-up is not ruled out—at least.

The certainties that the "Muñeco" has are that he will not have the six players called up to the South American national teams (Gonzalo Montiel, Lautaro Rivero, Marcos Acuña, Kevin Castaño, Juan Fernando Quintero, and Matías Galarza) nor one of the two suspended players: Juan Carlos Portillo, sent off in Rosario last Sunday.

Therefore, it will be a "patched-up" eleven, featuring several River players with little recent playtime like Paulo Díaz, Milton Casco, and Santiago Lencina, among others who are expected to start at the Monumental.

The possible River lineup against Sarmiento: Franco Armani; Fabricio Bustos, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Paulo Díaz, Milton Casco; Giuliano Galoppo, Enzo Pérez or Agustín de la Cuesta, Santiago Lencina; Ignacio Fernández; Facundo Colidio and Miguel Borja or Maximiliano Salas.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.