Gómez sets record as Palmeiras end River’s Monumental streak | OneFootball

Defender and captain of Palmeiras, Gustavo Gómez achieved a historic milestone this Wednesday in Palmeiras' 2-1 victory over River Plate, in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores. The defender opened the scoring for Verdão at the Monumental and became the top-scoring defender in the continental competition.

Now, the Palmeiras captain has 14 goals in the competition, surpassing Chilean Rubén Espinoza, who was champion with Colo-Colo-CHI in 1991. Verdão's number 15 also ranks third in Palmeiras' top scorers in the continental competition. Rony leads with 23 goals.

Gustavo Gómez is one of Palmeiras' leaders and has been with the club since 2018. The athlete has already won 12 titles with Alviverde, including two Libertadores (2020 and 2021). With this goal, he surpassed midfielder Valdivia and secured the eighth position among the club's top scorers in the 21st century and among the foreign players with the most goals: 42.

Gómez celebrates achievement against River

Gustavo Gómez took advantage of Andreas Pereira's perfectly placed corner kick to open the scoring just five minutes into the first half. Vitor Roque, at 40 minutes, scored Palmeiras' second goal. River Plate pressed at the end and reduced the deficit with Martínez Quarta.

“Extremely happy. We faced a team that in recent times is one of the most successful in Argentina. They have the best coach in history, won several Libertadores. They are a strong opponent like us. We knew it would be difficult. They changed their scheme in the second half and made it a bit complicated for us,” he told ESPN.

“But, in the first half, we played well, we could have scored more goals. But the most important thing is the victory. We conceded a goal, which can happen. Obviously, we were taking care of the result, it's not easy to play and win here,” he continued.

Palmeiras breaks River's unbeaten run at the Monumental

Palmeiras' 2-1 victory broke River Plate's unbeaten run at home in the Libertadores after 18 games. The Argentine team had not lost at the Monumental since 2021. The last defeat was a 1-0 loss to Atlético-MG in the quarter-finals of that season. After that, they had 13 wins and five draws.

The defeat to Verdão was River's first in this edition of the Libertadores and only the third in the entire season. The Argentine club was also defending a 12-game unbeaten streak this year. The last loss was to Inter Milan in the Club World Cup.

Palmeiras and River Plate will face each other again next Wednesday, for the return leg of the Libertadores quarter-finals. The match kicks off at 9:30 PM (Brasília time), at Allianz Parque.

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