Coudet expects River changes for Racing: «I think they’ll rotate» | OneFootball

“I think there’s going to be rotation,” a “dissatisfied” Eduardo Coudet predicted after River’s trip to Bolivia for the Copa Sudamericana. The draw with Blooming, shaped by Lucas Martínez Quarta’s early red card, left a bitter taste in Núñez and also made it clear that the packed schedule is taking a toll on the players. That’s why, with a visibly tired team, Chacho already hinted that there will be changes with Sunday’s clásico against Racing in mind.

After the first five matches of the cycle (four wins and one draw) with a lineup that had largely remained the same—aside from minor tweaks—changes are now coming at River in the middle of this run of matches in order to manage workloads. The more heavily rotated lineup, with more backups than starters, will come against Carabobo ahead of the Superclásico, but there will still be some changes against La Academia.

For now, the full-back positions are the most likely to see changes. Gonzalo Montiel has recovered from his muscle tear, got minutes again, and is shaping up to start in place of Fabricio Bustos on Sunday. Marcos Acuña served his suspension and will return to the starting XI instead of Matías Viña, who finished completely exhausted in the trip to Bolivia.

Likewise, in defense, with Lautaro Rivero suspended, Lucas Martínez Quarta will surely be in the lineup since his sending-off meant he did not log much physical wear in the continental opener. And next to him? Germán Pezzella returned from injury, and Tobías Ramírez, the latest signing, is also available.

Moving from back to front, among the usual starters, Sebastián Driussi, the top scorer of the Coudet era, is a strong candidate to be rested against Racing due to the ankle issue that forced him off at halftime against Blooming. The rest—especially the midfielders who have been through a heavy workload (Aníbal Moreno, Fausto Vera and Tomás Galván)—will be assessed during this short period to determine whether they should also be protected in the next match at the Monumental.

Although Chacho did not confirm in his press conference how the team rotation will look, the expectation is that minutes will be managed. River have three matches in seven days coming up. First, they will visit Racing on Matchday 14 of the Apertura. Then, on Wednesday, April 15, they will host Carabobo in the second round of the international tournament’s group stage; and on Sunday the 19th, from 5:00 p.m., they will host Boca in a new edition of the Argentine football Superclásico.

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