River Plate won 3-1 against Urawa Red Diamonds in their Club World Cup Group E debut. With goals from Facundo Colidio, Sebastián Driussi — who suffered an injury during the match — and Maximiliano Meza, all scored with headers.
El Millonario got off to a strong start ahead of their upcoming clash against Monterrey. Yusuke Matsuo scored a penalty to pull one back for the Japanese side.
The Argentines Franco Armani, Gonzalo Montiel, Germán Pezzella, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Marcos Acuña, Enzo Pérez, Ignacio Fernández, and Franco Mastantuono were all starters for the team coached by Marcelo Gallardo.
Paulo Dybala turned down an offer from Al-Hilal to play with them at the Club World Cup.
Dybala reportedly said no to the Saudi club to play with them in the United States. According to César Luis Merlo, Al-Hilal offered the Argentine €10 million to play with them at the Club World Cup but he said no.
Agustín Rossi kept a clean sheet for Flamengo against Espérance de Tunis in the Club World Cup.
Rossi made two saves for the Brazilian club in their 2-0 win against Espérance de Tunis. The Argentine made a save in the 66th minute, a near post save to keep the clean sheet.
Flamengo are first in the group, tied with Chelsea, who won 2-0 against LAFC with Enzo Fernández scoring in the match. Flamengo play Chelsea on Friday.
River Plate play their first match at this year’s Club World Cup while eight Argentina players from outside the league could be taking part in the match.
Flamengo with Germán Cano and Juan Freytes will play the first match of the day against Borussia Dortmund. The second match will be River Plate against Urawa Reds.
In the last match of the day, it’s Pachuca who have three Argentine players against Inter who also have three Argentine players. The Champions League finalists Inter have Lautaro Martínez, Tomás Palacios and Valentín Carboni while Monterrey have Esteban Andrada, Lucas Ocampos and Jorge Rodríguez.
Osvaldo Godoy of Mundo Albiceleste was in attendance as media for the 2-2 draw between Boca Juniors and Benfica. Videos of the pre-match Boca Juniors crowd can be seen below.
Ángel Di María, Nicolás Otamendi and Rodrigo Battaglia scored for their clubs in Benfica’s 2-2 draw against Boca Juniors.
Boca Juniors were the first Argentine team to take part in this year’s Club World Cup. With Enzo Fernández scoring for Chelsea in their 2-0 win against LAFC, Boca Juniors against Benfica produced three more goals scored by Argentine players.
It was Boca Juniors who took a 1-0 lead when Migue Merentiel beat Nicolás Otamendi after a low cross into the penalty area and Merentiel would score the first goal of the match. The second goal also came from Boca Juniors.
A cross into the penalty area off a corner kick and it was a header which fell to Rodrigo Battaglia and he would score to give Boca Juniors the 2-0 lead. But Benfica would get their goal.
Benfica were awarded a penalty kick and it was Ángel Di María who took it. He would beat Agustín Marchesín as Di María would go to the left and score.
The second half would see Andrea Belotti of Benfica get red carded. Minutes after, Ángel Di María would be substituted out for Gianluca Prestianni.
Benfica were awarded a corner kick and it was Nicolás Otamendi who scored an unstoppable header to draw Benfica level.
Another red card would be produced, this time for Boca Juniors. A 2-2 draw means both teams are tied for second and third, with Bayern Munich being first in the group and Auckland City last.
