Independiente vs River
Independiente fans will have celebrated the team’s away point in a heated city derby against Racing Club last Sunday, when they drew 0-0 despite suffering two sending-offs during the match. As a result, Julio Vaccari’s men made it four league matches unbeaten, winning two and drawing two without even conceding in that time. El Rojo accumulated 15 points in the Liga Profesional, which places them just two points behind the last Copa Sudamericana spot in the aggregate table, occupied by Argentinos Juniors. Independiente haven’t lost any of the last five at Estadio Libertadores de America, with two victories and three stalemates since losing to Talleres 3-1 in May. On Wednesday, they won 3-0 over Godoy Cruz in the Copa Argentina round of 16. Federico Vera and Damian Perez were sent off at Racing Club and are suspended for Sunday, as well as Joaquin Laso, who reached the yellow-card limit.
River Plate played below expectations last Sunday and ended up registering a disappointing scoreless home stalemate against Newell’s Old Boys. Following that result, El Millonario made it 17 points in the Liga Profesional (seven behind leaders Huracan and Velez Sarsfield), having won only one of their last eight matches in this competition, along with five draws and two losses. That negative streak still prevents them from climbing into the Copa Libertadores’ zone in the aggregate table. In fact, River managed just two points from the last 15 on offer as the visiting side in league action.
Independiente has looked better but will miss most of their starting defense due to suspension. When River is playing goals are almost secured except in last week’s scoreless draw vs Newell’s who just defended the whole game, but this should be a very different story because Independiente wants to win this derby, so a couple of goals should definitely be expected.