River v Rosario Central, Apertura: time, line-ups and live TV | OneFootball

River and Rosario Central will play this Saturday from 7:30 p.m. at the Monumental Stadium in the semifinals of the Liga Profesional Apertura Tournament. El Millonario qualified after beating Gimnasia with the fluid play its fans had been demanding, while El Canalla did so after coming through a controversial match against Racing that had to go to extra time. Find out everything you need to know about the match, which will be refereed by Nicolás Ramírez and will determine the opponent of the winner between Argentinos Juniors and Belgrano.

After struggling to find the best version of El Millonario, Eduardo Coudet got his team back to convincing form and secured the win thanks to goals from Sebastián Driussi and Lucas Martínez Quarta. La Banda now has the chance to prove that the match against El Lobo was not just another isolated good result, but rather the improvement in performance the fans had been asking for.

The other semifinal will be played the following day in La Paternal. Whoever wins, the grand final will be played in Córdoba, specifically at the Mario Alberto Kempes Stadium, next Sunday, May 24, at 3:30 p.m.

Although Chacho has not yet had time to test any lineup after the win, after two players who had been doubtful due to muscle overload were included in the squad, Gonzalo Montiel and Marcos Acuña will start against El Canalla. Both of them, along with Lucas Martínez Quarta and Lautaro Rivero, will make up the back four in front of Santiago Beltrán. In midfield, as usual, Fausto Vera, Aníbal Moreno and Tomás Galván will play, with the surprise inclusion of Maximiliano Meza in place of Santiago Lencina, and up front, Facundo Colidio and Sebastián Driussi.

Meanwhile, the team coached by Jorge Almirón has won seven of its last eight matches, drawing the other one. They first eliminated Independiente and then Racing, and now they are looking to take down their third big club in a row. In the quarterfinal clash, their opponent was reduced to nine men due to an early second yellow for Maravilla Martínez and then the same punishment for Marcos Di Cesare in extra time, which sparked fury on Gustavo Costas' bench and from his son Gonzalo. Both decisions were unclear and caused anger in the Avellaneda side, even leading to explosive statements from club president Diego Milito.

The last time the two teams faced each other was in January of this year, in this same Apertura Tournament. On that occasion, it ended in a scoreless draw on Matchday 3, in a tight match whose biggest flashpoint was a Driussi goal ruled out by VAR.

River's lineup vs. Rosario Central, for the Apertura Tournament

Santiago Beltrán; Gonzalo Montiel; Lucas Martínez Quarta, Lautaro Rivero, Marcos Acuña; Aníbal Moreno, Fausto Vera, Tomás Galván, Maximiliano Meza; Facundo Colidio and Sebastián Driussi. Coach: Eduardo Coudet.

Rosario Central's possible lineup vs. River, for the Apertura Tournament

Jeremías Ledesma; Emanuel Coronel, Ignacio Ovando, Gastón Ávila, Agustín Sández; Franco Ibarra, Vicente Pizarro; Enzo Giménez, Ángel Di María; Enzo Copetti and Alejo Véliz. Coach: Jorge Almirón.

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