River Plate – Belgrano: Galván’s Brace Seals River Plate’s Victory After Ruthless Display (3-0)

River Plate’s dominance in all phases of the game was evident in the scoreline. The aim of dominating with the ball and suffocating Belgrano without it made it a one-sided affair. River’s tactical setup led to constant final entries, making it harder for Belgrano to deal with these situations. Belgrano had no answers and paid the price.

Tactical analysis and match report by Ebuka Ogoegbunam.

Four games into his new club, Eduardo Coudet won his first three games as River Plate made a huge step in the standings. Only one point separated the two teams before their clash. The magnitude of the game was important to maintaining River’s good form.

Coudet’s 4-2-2-2 shape had Santiago Beltrán in goal with a back four of Fabricio Bustos, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Lautaro Rivero, and Matías Viña. Fausto Vera and Aníbal Moreno operated in defensive midfield. Tomás Galván and Ian Subiabre operated in the pockets as attacking midfielders behind the frontline of Sebastián Driussi and Facundo Colidio.

Belgrano’s Ricardo Zielinski set up in a 4-2-3-1 shape. Thiago Cardozo retained his place in goal behind a defensive line of Alcides Benítez, Leonardo Morales, Alexis Maldonado, and Federico Ricca. Adrián Sánchez and Franco Vázquez occupied deep areas in midfield, with Lucas Zelarayán slightly higher up. Emiliano Rigoni, Francisco González Metilli and Lucas Passerini led the line

How River gained dominance

River Plate derived much control from their 4-2-2-2 shape. In possession, their fullbacks held the width, while one of the midfielders, often Fausto Vera, dropped into the defense to make a back three. River had a 3-1-6 shape with the fullbacks high up, bursting forward whenever they had the chance to. Moreno sat as the sole pivot in the middle of the park.

Belgrano set up in a 4-4-2 block out of possession and early in the game, they had the numerical advantage against Belgrano’s last line. Subiabre and Galván were very clever with their movement, making runs beyond, constantly moving to find space in central areas. Their movements manipulated the opposition’s defensive line, creating spaces for the forwards.

River’s front four manipulating Belgrano’s defensive line and attacking the space using third man runs.

Galván and Subiabre’s position in the pockets at times made it hard for Belgrano defenders to have a direct focus on one marker. Maldonado and Morales were pinned by Driussi and Colidio, hence allowing Galván and Subiabre to make runs into the half-spaces. When these runs were not tracked, these defenders were overloaded with the Belgrano fullbacks forced to jump to River’s fullbacks.

River’s strikers are pinning Belgrano’s defenders and creating space for players to attack the half spaces.

Belgrano’s attempt to have an extra man allowed River to exert their control of the game even more. During build up, Belgrano’s press wasn’t effective as they often left one of River’s midfielders free in the middle of the pitch. Belgrano played cautiously to try to limit River’s central overloads in their attack. This nullified the whole essence of the Belgrano’s first line of the press.

Beltrán finds Moreno easily after Sánchez fails to jump to him. Sánchez had to control the central overloads, having an extra man in that zone.

Belgrano’s Back-line Exposed

Belgrano planned to sit in a 4-4-2 block, but the wingers were tasked to track the fullbacks who were high up later in the first half. This allowed River to have numerical advantages in the buildup while Belgrano’s wingers were tasked with covering River’s fullbacks high up.

River’s attacking line were very fluid in their movements. They always looked to find spaces in between the lines or behind the defensive line. The proximity between the attackers enabled quick one – two passes to pull the opposition defenders out of their position.

Colidio and Driussi executed these actions/runs repeatedly, and the attackers failed to take their chances early on, but the signs were clear. Belgrano had problems defending the central pockets, and River kept looking to attack that zone. The task was made harder for the Belgrano back-line as Sánchez and Vázquez hardly did enough to track these runs and cover the back-line.

Galván was found when he attacked the half-space with Colidio and Driussi always looking to attack the box.

This sequence was also evident in River Plate’s second goal. Juan Cruz Meza, who was a substitute later in the game, made a similar half-space run with Bustos finding him. Meza delivers a cross that’s blocked, with the ball eventually falling for him to put a cross on Colidio’s head to score. It was eventually going to cost Belgrano with the rate at which they allowed these sequences to occur.

River’s reaction in phases

River operated at a different intensity level than Belgrano. They looked slightly quicker and more reactive than their opponent. This didn’t only show on the ball but also without it. River’s counterpressing whenever they lost the ball, suffocated Belgrano, and allowed them to win the ball in areas where they could retain momentum with the ball.

This also left River vulnerable with spaces conceded behind when they couldn’t win the ball back as quickly as they wanted to. However, this didn’t occur much in the game as they regained the ball at a high rate.

River’s counterpress helped force a turnover, which led to their first goal. Their intense pressure is rewarded by winning the ball in the middle of the pitch. Quick passing combinations were followed up after the regain. Benítez made a back pass that released Colidio through on goal. The keeper pushes his effort away into the path of Galván, who places the ball into the goal.

In the second half, Belgrano were more aggressive without the ball and committed more bodies forward. This allowed them to apply more pressure to shift momentum their way. On the other hand, this also meant they were more open than they were in the first half.

Galván’s second and River’s third came from a through ball from Moreno in the middle of the pitch. Galván’s run in between the defenders puts him in a good position to beat the keeper from an angle. Late in the game, that goal put the game to bed with River Plate sealing their fourth win in a row.

Takeaways

River Plate delivered a dominant 3-0 victory over Belgrano, with Tomás Galván’s brace capping off a tactically superior performance. From the outset, River controlled all phases of the game through their 4-2-2-2 structure, which allowed them to overload central areas and maintain constant pressure in the final third. Their use of a 3-1-6 shape in possession, with fullbacks pushing high and one midfielder dropping into the back line, created both numerical and positional superiority.

Galván and Ian Subiabre operated intelligently in the half-spaces, constantly manipulating Belgrano’s defensive line with well-timed runs and positional rotations. This movement, combined with the pinning presence of Sebastián Driussi and Facundo Colidio, created space for vertical attacks and third-man combinations.

River’s counterpressing was equally decisive, as they repeatedly regained possession in advanced areas, leading directly to their opening goal. Despite brief periods where Belgrano attempted to press higher in the second half, their structure remained vulnerable, particularly in central zones and behind the defensive line, which River exploited for their second and third goals.

The result significantly strengthens River Plate’s position in the standings, marking their fourth consecutive win and reinforcing the early impact of Eduardo Coudet’s system. Their ability to dominate both with and without the ball suggests a team building strong tactical cohesion and momentum.

For Belgrano, the defeat exposes structural weaknesses, particularly in their pressing organization and defensive compactness. Their inability to manage central overloads and track runners highlights key issues that must be addressed. Dropping points in a closely contested part of the table could affect their push for higher positions, especially against direct rivals like River.

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