River in freefall in the Clausura, lose 1-0 to Gimnasia in La Plata | OneFootball

River fell 1-0 on their visit to Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata at the Juan Carmelo Zerillo Stadium this Wednesday, on the second matchday of the 2026 Torneo Clausura.

The match marked Ángel Correa’s first start for El Millonario after sealing his arrival last Saturday, and although Eduardo Coudet’s side still struggled to get going in attack in the first half, the former San Lorenzo man was their standout player, as he showed with his touch to put Joaquín Freitas through one-on-one in the 33rd minute of the first half, only for Nelson Insfrán to make the save.

However, those first 45 minutes were also marked by some injury problems among their players. Both Correa and Mauro Arambarri, another signing from this transfer window, played most of the half while carrying knocks—Correa after taking a blow to the knee from Enzo Martínez, and the Uruguayan after a studs-up challenge from Alexis Steimbach on his ankle, which meant he could not come back out for the second half.

The match continued with similar incidents from the home side, first with a foul by Nacho Fernández on Gonzalo Montiel early in the second half and then, 15 minutes in, with another injury-enforced substitution, this time Marcos Acuña making way for Facundo González. On the football side, River remained just as sloppy in creating danger up front and very fragile in transition, which allowed Gimnasia to exploit spaces on the counterattack, particularly after the introduction of Maximiliano Zalazar.

The club from Núñez ended up paying dearly for that defensive hesitation 10 minutes from time, when El Lobo scored the winner. The move started down the right with a brilliant run from Ignacio Mirámón; although Rodrigo Auzmendi could not connect with his cross, Zalazar collected the ball on the opposite flank and delivered a perfect assist onto the head of Steinbach, who left Santiago Beltrán with no chance.

Ariel Pereyra’s men then used the goal as a springboard to keep piling pressure on the opposing defense, as shown by Steinbach’s powerful shot off the crossbar following a cross from Pedro Silva Torrejón. By contrast, the visitors’ only attacking move came in the final minute of regular time, from a header by Lucas Martínez Quarta that went well wide. Gimnasia’s defense always had an answer for the crosses El Millonario kept sending in.

The five minutes of added time failed to spark any real response, and it sealed River’s fourth consecutive defeat, exposing the serious creative and defensive transition problems in Coudet’s team, leaving him in a precarious position regarding his future.

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