River Plate 1-0 Boca Juniors | Demichelis wins the Superclásico | Tactical Analysis

River Plate beat Boca Juniors in a match with 3 keys. The first was River’s pressing, preventing Boca from building and progressing into the opposition half.

River Plate

Pressing

Boca played with a back 5 trying to take advantage of Advíncula with long balls but his teammates were unable to link up with him at almost any point in the game. River played in a 4-2-3-1 with a high press in the flanks, blocking the central channel. So when the ball came to the flank River pressed with many players, showing a lot of aggressiveness, recovering several balls in the first half that ended in chances for Demichelis’ team.

Nacho Fernández

The 2nd key was the position of Nacho Fernandez. Making good movements off the ball, appearing between the lines, creating a lot of problems to the Boca midfielders who always had the River 10 on their back.

In one of those moves he received the ball to turn in with a good first touch and finish one of River’s best chances.

Martín Demichelis

Although the home side were superior Boca Juniors managed to level the match in the second half having more possession but Demichelis’s substitutions turned the game around for River to take the win. The plan was to generate superiority on the left flank with De la Cruz playing with a lot of mobility, dropping deep to receive and carrying the ball into the final third or with progressive passes. Matías Suárez was open on the wing giving width, while Palavecino and Enzo Díaz offered passing lanes to link up.

1-0

The penalty in stoppage time was the result of Boca having too many players in the region where River were playing in the last part of the game, leaving a lot of space on the edge of the box and on the right flank.

Solari gets to the cross early and is fouled by Sandez, with Míguel Borja scoring the penalty for River’s victory with a great game from Martín Demichelis.