After some irregular seasons, River will play for a title again. In a tight match, the Millonario defeated Rosario Central 1-0 at the Monumental and qualified for the final of the 2026 Apertura Tournament.
In the first minutes, the game would be even, with shared possession and no dangerous chances. The first major incident, which would also be controversial, would occur at 8 minutes, with a harsh foul by Franco Ibarra on Sebastián Driussi that would take him out of the match. The peculiar thing about the play is that the referee Nicolás Ramírez would not consider the action a foul and would show a yellow card for a subsequent foul against Matías Viña. Instead of the Millonario's number 9, Joaquín Freitas would come on.
The duel would not present any noteworthy plays until minute 27, when Gastón Ávila would elbow Lucas Martínez Quarta in the area and, after a VAR review, the referee would award a penalty and only a yellow card. The one in charge of taking the penalty would be Gonzalo Montiel, whose shot would be saved by Jeremías Ledesma.
Although both teams would have isolated chances, especially the home team, these would have little effectiveness, and the score would remain 0 at the end of the first half. In the second half, Eduardo Coudet's team would suffer another loss: Aníbal Moreno would have to leave due to injury, being replaced by the young Lucas Silva.
Later, at 56, the Canalla would have a clear chance. Enzo Copetti would send a cross to Guillermo Pol Fernández, whose shot would be deflected by Lautaro Rivero in his attempt to clear and Santiago Beltrán would just graze it so that the ball bounces off the right post.
After the scare, at 60, River would find a new penalty. Facundo Colidio would be fouled by Conan Ledesma and, unlike Montiel, this time he would be able to beat the Canalla goalkeeper from 12 yards. Just after scoring, the Millonario almost extended the lead with a shot from outside the area by Fausto Vera.
Shortly after, the visitors would be close to scoring. Ángel Dí María would send a free-kick cross from the right flank that no one would manage to touch and that would end up hitting the left post.
At 83, a new controversy would arise over a kick to the face by Copetti on Lautaro Rivero that was not punished with a red card. Despite this, the Millonario would manage to withstand the attacks from a Central marked by fouls, and would end up winning by the minimum.
With this result, the Millonario advanced to the final of the 2026 Apertura Tournament, where they will face the winner of the other semifinal between Argentinos Juniors and Belgrano, which will be played tomorrow at 5 PM at the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona. The grand final will be on Sunday, May 24 at 3:30 PM at the Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes.
