Latest news with #Superclasico
Mint
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Mint
River Plate vs Urawa Red Diamonds Live Streaming: Where to watch FIFA Club World Cup 2025 clash, probable XIs and more
River Plate, Argentina's club will take on Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds in their opening match of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025. Both teams will want to clinch the top position in the group E which includes strong contender - Inter Milan. Here is all the important information ahead of the crucial clash. River Plate, led by Marcelo Gallardo, are set to begin their 2025 FIFA Club World Cup campaign with a strong lineup. Young player Franco Mastantuono, who will join Real Madrid in August 2025 after a €45 million transfer, will be eager to showcase his talent with River. The 17-year-old attacking midfielder, who scored a stunning free-kick in a Superclasico win, has 10 goals in 61 appearances. Facundo Colidio, with six goals in his last 22 matches, is expected to lead the attack along with Sebastián Driussi, who netted three goals in the Copa Libertadores. Urawa Red Diamonds, managed by Maciej Skorza, will rely on key attackers for their Club World Cup opener. Ryoma Watanabe, with six goals in 17 J1 League games, will lead the attack for the team. Yusuke Matsuo, contributing three goals in 20 appearances, adds pace on the wing. Brazilian Matheus Savio is set to feature in the final third. Despite a recent dip, Urawa will aim to bounce back and challenge River Plate. Time: 3 PM ET (June 17) | 12:30 AM IST (June 18) Venue: Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington, United States. River Plate (4-3-3): Armani; Montiel, Martinez, Diaz, Acuna; Castano, Perez, Meza; Mastantuono, Driussi, Colidio. Urawa Red Diamonds (4-2-3-1): Nishikawa; Ishihara, Ogiwara, Gustafson, Boza; Holbraten, Kaneko; Yasui, Matsuo, Savio; Watanabe. The River Plate vs Urawa Red Diamonds clash in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will be streamed live on DAZN's YouTube channel. DAZN is FIFA's global broadcast partner for Club World Cup 2025 in the United States. There is no update on the tournament's official broadcaster in India.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Liverpool attempt to snatch WONDERKID from Real Madrid
Real Madrid win race for Mastantuono He has scored a couple of sensational goals this year - including a world-class freekick against Superclasico rivals Boca Juniors - and is destined to move this summer. Advertisement Currently with River for the FIFA Club World Cup, it's expected that Mastantuono will transfer to Europe in August once he turns 18. Disappointingly for Liverpool and other interested clubs it looks like Real Madrid have won the race for Mastantuono - agreeing to pay around €45m for the starlet. Liverpool tried to land Mastantuono But now it's been revealed that the Reds made a last-ditch effort to convince Mastantuono and his entourage to choose Anfield. That's according to the latest report in TBR Football - which claims that FIVE Premier League clubs in total attempted to wrestle the top prospect away from Madrid. Advertisement 'In the last six weeks – Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Newcastle all made a play to land the River Plate sensation,' the report reads. 'However, he opted for Real Madrid, who were long-term favourites for the attacking midfielder.'
New York Times
09-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Club World Cup team guide – Boca Juniors: A global brand, Cavani and a coach returning for his third stint
Not many South American clubs can boast widespread brand recognition outside of their own continent. Boca Juniors can. Maybe it's the kit, that striking golden band across princely blue. Maybe it's the stadium, a powder keg in the shape of a chocolate box, the kind of place to which people make pilgrimages. Maybe it's the badge, the constellation of stars and the collegiate lettering. Maybe it's the power of woozy, half-baked memories — of Diego Maradona, Juan Roman Riquelme, Martin Palermo, romantic figures of all different persuasions. It is, of course, all of these things, plus a few more intangibles. Boca are just one of those mythic, mystical sporting entities, revered not only by their fans but by people who have never even seen them play. Follow the Club World Cup on The Athletic this summer… Boca have won 35 domestic league titles. They have won the Copa Libertadores (South America's premier continental competition) six times — four since the turn of the millennium — and the old Intercontinental Cup, which was succeeded by the old Club World Cup, on three occasions. Their trophy cabinet speaks for itself. Advertisement The last couple of years have been difficult, however, defined by friction behind the scenes and underperformance on the pitch. Defeat against River Plate in the Superclasico in April brought everything to a head: Riquelme, now club president, sacked coach Fernando Gago and, a month later, turned to veteran Miguel Angel Russo in a bid to put Boca back on track. It is fair to say that the Club World Cup is not coming at the best time. Boca snuck in via the back door, taking the sixth and final South American qualification spot courtesy of their place in the CONMEBOL confederation's four-year ranking of its clubs. Boca only appointed Russo at the start of June, so the likelihood is that they will still be feeling their way into his methods when the Club World Cup begins. The 69-year-old is a pragmatist, generally favouring simplicity, in both formation — 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 are his usual bankers, although 4-3-1-2 may suit this squad better — and style of play. Expect a broadly defensive approach, with a renewed emphasis on grit and physicality — qualities that some Boca fans feel have been missing in recent years. Russo has plenty of credit in the bank with the Boca fans: this is his third stint in charge at La Bombonera and during his first spell, they won the 2007 Libertadores. He is seen as a manager of the old school: demanding, passionate, much more of a player-whisperer than a tactical whizz. His intimate knowledge of Boca is seen as a big plus, as is his friendship with Riquelme. The hope is that he will have the personality to unite a squad that has not always been the most harmonious. In a fairly joyless 2024 campaign, Boca's brightest light was Edinson Cavani. Now 38, the former Napoli, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United striker is understandably not the athlete he once was. He does, however, retain killer instincts in the penalty box, as well as the never-say-die attitude that made him such a hit in European football. His form has dropped away a little this year, but if Boca need someone to rise to the occasion in the U.S., Cavani still looks their best bet. The fans are most excited about Milton Delgado, a central midfielder who broke into the senior squad last season. While not the most physically impressive — he looks like he would have to run around in the rain to get wet — the 19-year-old is an excellent all-rounder, capable of breaking up attacks on the edge of his own box and dictating the play when Boca have possession. He is energetic, has good technique and reads the game extremely well. One of the most popular — and less profane — songs at La Bombonera is Boca Mi Buen Amigo. It goes like this: Boca, my good friend, This campaign, we will be with you again, We will cheer for you with all our hearts, These are your fans who want to see you as champions, I don't care what they say, What others say, I follow you everywhere, I love you more and more. Easy one: River Plate. Like so many rivalries, this comes steeped in its own lore and stereotypes: River the rich kids from the Belgrano neighbourhood, Boca the plucky upstarts, street fighters from the wrong side of the tracks. The animosity between the two clubs — Argentina's biggest by a margin — usually translates to heated, red-card-strewn matches. Sadly, violence has been a theme off the pitch, too; the chaotic scenes ahead of the second 2018 Copa Libertadores final, which led to the match being relocated to Madrid, shocked the wider world but were far from out of the ordinary. The architecture of La Bombonera — three tiers sweeping around three sides of the ground, plus a vertical fourth wall of viewing boxes — is so iconic that it's hard to imagine it being any other way. That fourth side, though, to the east, was more of a fudge than a design choice: the residents of what is now Del Valle Iberlucea street were not willing to allow their homes to be bulldozed to make way for a stand, so architects had to be creative. Even now, 85 years after the stadium opened, there are occasional whispers that it may one day be 'completed' — ie, turned into a full bowl. Because they like former Manchester United players? Boca have no fewer than four: Cavani, Ander Herrera, Marcos Rojo and Sergio Romero. Beyond that, with no real promise of absorbing football, it's ultimately going to come down to vibes. Honestly, just look at that kit, still magnificent all these decades later, and try to keep your heart from speeding up. (All kick-offs ET/BST) (Top photos: SOPA Images, Alejandro Pagni/Getty; design: Kelsea Petersen/The Athletic)
New York Times
08-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Club World Cup team guide – River Plate: An illustrious history and a future South American star
The inaugural Club World Cup starts in the United States on June 14, with its 32 teams split into eight groups of four in the opening phase. As part of our guides to the sides that will feature in the tournament, James Horncastle gives you the background on River Plate. Follow the Club World Cup on The Athletic this summer… El Mas Grande ('the greatest'), this club from Buenos Aires need little introduction. The 38-time Argentine league champions also boast one of the most talked-about young stars in South American football (more on Franco Mastantuono later). River should be very good after spending more than €50million (£42.2m; $57m) in the transfer window. That's a huge amount for Argentine football. The funds were raised by selling players to Russian teams, as Spartak Moscow and CSKA Moscow signed a trio of River old boys. It took a while for head coach Marcelo Gallardo to integrate all the acquisitions — River essentially bought a new team — but German Pezzella, Lucas Martinez Quarta and Sebastian Driussi were all returning, too, after leaving clubs in Europe. Advertisement Gallardo's latest vintage finished strongly in the first half of the season (the Apertura), and rather satisfyingly threw Boca into crisis by beating them in the 'Superclasico' — a defeat that cost rival coach Fernando Gago his job. Unexpectedly, River then lost on penalties in the play-offs to Platense, who shocked everyone and won a top league title for the first time in their history. Unlike the Brazilian teams who qualified as recent winners of the Copa Libertadores, South America's Champions League equivalent, River booked their place based on their ranking over the last four years in continental competitions. They were the top-ranked eligible CONMEBOL (South American) team and sealed their place by beating Libertad 2-0 in last season's Copa Libertadores group stages with a brace from Miguel Borja, their experienced Colombian striker. River have a tradition of playing slick football going back to La Maquina, the legendary side of the late '30s and early '40s, which nudged South American football forward. Renato Cesarini and Carlos Peucelle, the most consequential coaches in River's history until Gallardo, used to say: 'What's the ball made of? Leather. And where does leather come from? Cows. And what do cows eat? Grass.' The ball has to eat grass. In other words, it has to move. Gallardo knows this better than anyone, but he is also a pragmatist who has always adapted his system to the players available and the opponent River are facing. Gallardo is only 49 and yet there is a towering bronze statue of him outside River's Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires. It shows him holding aloft the Copa Libertadores, a trophy he won as a player with River Plate in 1996 and then as a coach in 2015 and 2018. Known as the Muneco ('doll'), the baby-faced Gallardo is the most successful manager in River's illustrious history. This is his second spell as manager after Al Ittihad briefly lured him away to work in the Saudi Pro League. The statue that River unveiled of him raised eyebrows because it seemed Gallardo had stuffed another Libertadores trophy in his trouser pocket. 'Alisson? No! Franco Armani.' He is 38 and, let's be honest, isn't as good as Alisson in goal. But River's veteran goalkeeper has been caught up in too many legendary moments to count. He won his first Libertadores with Atletico Nacional in Colombia, married a Colombian and could have played for Colombia. Then Armani returned to Argentina, played another couple of Libertadores finals, winning one with River. He was a member of Argentina's World Cup-winning squad in Qatar in 2022 and helped advise Emiliano Martinez in the shootouts that decided the quarter-final and final. Daniele Adani, the former Inter centre-back turned pundit, who became a River fan because of his former team-mate Matias Almeyda, once said: 'Armani isn't the best goalkeeper in football, he's the best in humanity.' This is all an exaggeration. River continue to have arguably the best academy in Argentina and their latest graduate is the most talked about talent in South America. Franco Mastantuono made his debut for the national team in early June. He does not turn 18 until August yet his appearance for Argentina somehow felt overdue. A playmaker who operates from the right, Mastantuono finished the first half of the season in remarkable form, scoring and assisting seven times in his last nine club appearances in all competitions. The crowning moment was his incredible Superclasico-winning free kick against Boca in April, which flicked the hype machine into overdrive. There are so many to choose from. One is about a tarot card reader who tells a River fan to give up smoking weed and the booze, otherwise they'll go to the grave. She throws her cards and decrees River will be champions, their rivals in the mud, and frankly, that's all that matters. That would be Boca Juniors. It is South America's fiercest rivalry. Both clubs were founded in the same working-class neighbourhood, known as the mouth of Buenos Aires. Boca took its name and stayed. River moved around instead. They were social climbers, pitching up in Caballito, Palermo and Recoleta before settling down in well-to-do Nunez. This led River to be nicknamed the Millionaires. Their stadium, the Monumental, has a capacity of over 85,000, significantly larger than Boca's Bombonera, which holds 57,200. One of the huge stands of the Monumental was bankrolled by the transformational transfer fee Juventus paid for forward Omar Sivori in 1957. There are a couple of recent animating elements to this rivalry. Boca, for instance, revelled in River's relegation in 2011. River then got their own back by beating Boca in the 2018 Libertadores final. Boca's stadium is known as the 'chocolate box'. It is a bowl-shaped stadium except for one stand, which is square. The lore says that the houses behind that stand are owned by generations of River fans who refuse to sell up, stopping Boca from completing the curved look of the Estadio Alberto J Armando, known more colloquially as La Bombonera. Because River are El Mas Grande. The greatest. (All kicks-offs ET/BST) (Top photos: Rodrigo Valle/ Eurasia Sport Image/Getty; design: Kelsea Petersen/The Athletic)
The Star
05-06-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Soccer-Real Madrid agree deal for River Plate teenager Mastantuono
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Copa Libertadores - Group Stage - River Plate v Independiente del Valle - Estadio Mas Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina - May 15, 2025 River Plate's Franco Mastantuono celebrates scoring their third goal REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian/File Photo BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Real Madrid have agreed to sign River Plate's young forward Franco Mastantuono for an initial fee of about $45 million, a spokesman for the Argentine club told Reuters on Thursday. The 17-year-old Mastantuono made his debut for River in January 2024 and is widely regarded by the local media as the latest prodigy to emerge from Argentine football. A talented left-footed finisher, he established himself as a starter under coach Marcelo Gallardo and soon became a key part of the Buenos Aires-based team. "The sale is settled, in the final talks it remains to agree on some details," a club source told Reuters, who gave no further information about the transfer. Mastantuono had been linked to other big European clubs such as Manchester United and Paris St Germain after attracting attention with a stunning free kick in River Plate's Superclasico win over Boca Juniors in April. River intend to keep the attacking midfielder on loan at the club until December to complete their Copa Libertadores campaign, according to local press reports. Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni recently called up Mastantuono for the first time for matches against Chile and Colombia in the South American qualifiers. He could become the youngest player to make his senior debut for Argentina. (Reporting by Ramiro Scandolo, writing by Janina Nuno Rios; Editing by Javier Leira and Ken Ferris)
