No handball by Colidio: the controversial moment as River crash out | OneFootball

River’s elimination against Palmeiras in Brazil left a lot of frustration among the Millonario squad; because of the result, the feeling of having let the series slip away at the Monumental, and a refereeing decision in São Paulo that took away their last hope. Andrés Matonte called a handball on Facundo Colidio that wasn’t there, and from that came the long ball that led to the penalty, Acuña’s sending off, and José Manuel López’s 2-1 goal.

Although the call was followed by a huge lapse in concentration and a foul that Huevo could have avoided (it would have been better to face a one-on-one with Armani and stay with eleven men, rather than concede a penalty and go down to ten), the Millonario camp was left with the feeling that the Uruguayan referee lost control of the match, and that handball was just a consequence of a chaos that had been brewing.

“That’s what we were protesting. They had a player down as well. The referee didn’t know how to handle the match at that moment. First, he calls something he didn’t see, because he had his back turned. Then, one of their players is down, and he goes to attend to him… It was a mix of everything. In that confusion, we gave the opponent an advantage,” Marcelo Gallardo said at the press conference.

The truth is that Matonte had his back to Colidio, but the River striker’s movement was misleading. The ball hit his thigh and hip, not his arm, but the dynamics of the play made it look like a foul. After that, a player was left on the ground and the quick play caught the Millonario defense napping. There was a mistake by the referee, but it wasn’t necessarily decisive.

Penalty, second yellow for Acuña, goal by Flaco López, and River’s hopes evaporated in seconds. There were still three minutes plus stoppage time to play, but with a man down, Gallardo’s team had no chance of turning the result around. They needed two goals, but soon it was three, because the former Lanús player scored a wonder goal and sealed the outcome.

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