I slept.. maybe an hour or two... but I slept. Hopefully it's an entertaining game. Finals tend to be poorly played games that don't live up to expectations (Liverpool-Tottenham anyone?? Spain-Holland? Atletico-Real? Liverpool-Real?). Too many nerves when so much is at stake that passing tends to turn imprecise and clumsy challenges become the norm. We saw it to an extent in last year's Libertadores final, where, despite River's 3 golazos, the overall performance between the two sides was lower than it should have been given the quality of the players on the pitch. Still, if there's a final I would recommend to a neutral, it's this one. Both River and Flamengo are offensive-minded teams filled with great, technical players. Both sides could easily be NTs, tbh... Like I said, that doesn't promise a well-played match, but at least we won't be expecting anyone to sit back for longer parts of the game (unless there's an early goal)
Congrats to Boca, who after defeating River in semifinals were able to get their revenge and be the champions of the copa li—— oh wait
River manages to lose the game in the last couple minutes of the match and what a brutal way to lose. Pinola... What was he thinking?!
River the first team since São Paulo in 2005 and 2006 to reach consecutive Libertadores finals, then, but Boca Juniors in 2000 and 2001 remain the last club to win the thing twice in a row.— Sam Kelly (@HEGS_com) November 23, 2019 So close to greatness, and yet so far... "Boy I hope VAR bails us out again..."
Pinola played an overall fantastic match. While River were up 1-0, he was IMO the man of the match. The real question is what was Gallardo thinking bringing in an inexperienced pibe like Julian Alvarez for a key pillar of the midfield like Nacho Fernandez. I wouldn’t have taken Nacho out in such an important game, but if anything bring in Quintero. Julian though? Really?? I felt at the moment that this substitution was a grave error, and I feel in the end it was important to Flamengo’s comeback. Bringing in Pratto was also a huge mistake. Of course it’s easy to talk after the fact, but Oso has been slow and a shadow of his former self for months. In fact, he hasn’t even scored all season! And sure enough his pace and mistake led to Fla’s goal We all love Gallardo and he’s still the best coach in South America, but just like he has won us big games in the past with his tactics, today his decisions singlehandedly gave away the game.
Your biggest smiles in the past decade have been thanks to Flamengo and Belgrano, hijitus. Here you are talking about greatness, yet I never see you at the table with the high rollers
I can't put it on Gallardo. His tactics are the only reason that River were so close to win it. Maybe his subs were mistakes but i think its a little bit being smart after the fact.
Yes, we’re speaking with the morning paper, but even while we were up 1-0 that Julian Alvarez substitution seemed like a huge mistake (as did Pratto’s substitution in, albeit to a lesser extent for obvious reasons). Gallardo had already made heavy mistakes tactically and substitution-wise in the second leg of the semifinal vs Boca, although they were downplayed and ignored/forgotten based on the fact that River won the series and advanced to the final. Today, his substitutions were directly correlated to losing the game. With that said, I’m not faulting his overall work and I still think he’s by far the best coach in the continent (and one of the best on the planet)... however I’m not going to play blind just because of his past achievements. Today his subs were off and played to Flamengo’s advantage without a doubt
That was terribly disappointing. Gallardo shows he has the nous to be a top coach. The tactics were spot on. But the team tired. There was the poor final passes in the final third that had me scratching my eyes and the inability to make the right decisions at the crucial times. The finishing from Palacios from the Suarez chance was poor although he was excellent otherwise. Pratto lived up to his name. Instead of holding onto the ball and using his frame to win free kicks he blasted two aimless efforts at goal. He completely missed Montiel out wide in acres of space. The crucial error was whoever was in midfield losing the ball prior to the equalizer. They had almost lost the ball once decided to hang onto it and lost it again. Montiel was again in acres of space. Just pass it to him and let him run it into the corner. This sort of nous was sorely lacking. And the sole difference required for them to win. Otherwise River deserved the win. That is a Libertadores thrown away. At 1-0 they should have looked for the killer second and had the chances.
Futbol is cruel, no matter how good he was that error was just awful. Ayala was a great defender but some of my memories that I remember him are getting turned around by Bergkamp in France, scoring the goal v Germany and then missing a penalty in 06 and in 07 CA Final kicking the ball into our own net. I simply can't grasp what Pinola was thinking there... Gallardo is an excellent manager and I feel for him but this is a mistake that he'll need to learn from. Pratto giving the ball up the way he did, when I was watching the game on my phone, I was thinking this looks bad since River was outnumbered on the counter. I was hoping for the game to go into ET but I felt there was probably another goal coming... River looked deflated and Flamengo found their second wind, which was a bad combination for River. River has had immense success in the last few years. Yet at times, people say it is the ones that you lose and the ones you give away are the ones that you'll remember. Losing 3-0 wouldn't have been as bad as just tossing a continental title away. I guess we'll see what happens next. Will Gallardo return when the season is over or will Europe come knocking? Palacios is another question... A lot of questions will need to be answered.
I hope Palacios and Quarta will move to Europe so that they can take their game to next level. Both are exceptional talents. I fear for Lo Celso and Foyth at Tottenham. Have we ever had an Argentine play well under Mourinho?
Watching the Madrid-PSG match and I have to say Di Maria is utter shit today, a vintage headless showing for him. Icardi has been okay. He got won a penalty and a red but the ref reversed the call for a phantom foul on the other end.
I dont think Messi ever scores from that kind of angle. Its something I havent seen since Roman days.. or Diego.
Nowhere as good as Dybala’s. Messi should take notes when Dybala is taking FK’s. Dybala has the best success rate in all of Europe. Takes notes, Leo. Since arriving at Juventus, Ronaldo took over direct free-kick responsibilities. 28 attempts. 0 goals.Dybala has the highest free-kick success rate in Europe over the last 5 seasons.Pjanic has the second highest free-kick success rate.🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/tBQpQzWnmK— Sky Bet (@SkyBet) November 27, 2019
Palacios has interest from Ajax and Leverkusen and apparently the German side reps are in town to finalize the deal.