River visit Vélez needing a win to keep Libertadores dream alive | OneFootball

The match between the Millonario and the Fortín will take place at the José Amalfitani stadium from 5 PM.

River Plate will visit Vélez Sarsfield this Sunday in a crucial match for the last date of the Group B of the Torneo Clausura of the Professional League, where Marcelo Gallardo's team is playing for a significant part of its immediate future. The match will be held from 5 PM at the José Amalfitani stadium, with refereeing by Leandro Rey Hilfer and VAR review by Adrián Franklin. The broadcast will be on TNT Sports.

The Millonario comes in shaken after the 2-0 defeat against Boca in the interzonal Superclásico, where they offered a very poor image and did not register shots on goal. This setback deepened the football crisis and left the Núñez club with serious complications in its goal of reaching a place in the next Copa Libertadores.

The path to the 2026 Libertadores is conditioned: they need to beat the Fortín and hope for a defeat of Argentinos Juniors against Estudiantes, which would allow them, at least, to enter the preliminary phase. Additionally, if Lanús wins the Copa Sudamericana, it will free up a spot that would place River directly in the group stage.

Gallardo will face this commitment with several absences: Kevin Castaño, affected by his national team due to the FIFA date, and the suspended Lucas Martínez Quarta and Marcos Acuña, both due to accumulation of yellow cards. Added to them is the absence of Maximiliano Meza, who suffered an avulsion in the patellar tendon and will be out for three months.

In this scenario, Enzo Pérez will return to the midfield in place of Martínez Quarta, while Fabricio Bustos and Milton Casco will take the places of Gonzalo Montiel and Acuña. Meanwhile, Giuliano Galoppo and Santiago Lencina are vying for the spot left by Meza. The other novelty will be the entry of Colombian Juan Fernando Quintero, who will replace his compatriot Castaño, modify the scheme, and position himself behind forwards Sebastián Driussi and Maximiliano Salas.

On the local side, Guillermo Barros Schelotto's team comes from losing 2-0 against Gimnasia La Plata and, despite having secured their place in the round of 16, they can still lose home advantage if they fall to River and other results combine.

Probable line-ups

Vélez Sarsfield: Tomás Marchiori; Jano Gordon, Thiago Silveiro, Aaron Quiros, Elías Gómez; Rodrigo Aliendro, Agustín Bouzat, Maher Carrizo, Francisco Pizzini, Bruno Valdes; Dilan Godoy. Coach: Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

River faces a decisive match. The obligation is to win to avoid depending on others and to keep alive a sports year that, after the blow in the Superclásico, has become more compromised than ever.

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