Di María scores twice as Rosario Central thrashes Independiente Rivadavia 5-0

By the 10th minute, the writing was already on the wall: Angel Di Maria converted a penalty to put Rosario Central up 1-0. What followed was a rout that finished 5-0 over Independiente Rivadavia at the Gigante de Arroyito, in Argentina's Primera División.

The match featured a strange sequence just before halftime. In the 38th minute, VAR overturned a red card shown to Alex Arce of Independiente Rivadavia. The reprieve lasted all of one minute, because in the 39th minute Arce was sent off anyway, this time for good. Down a man, the visitors headed to the locker room with the match still technically open on the scoreboard (1-0), even though the home side had controlled every minute of it.

The game was put away in the second half, and it wasn't close. Just after the restart, in the 50th minute, Jaminton Campaz doubled the lead with a left-footed finish from inside the box, set up by Vicente Pizarro. Six minutes later, in the 56th, Di Maria scored his second of the night, also with his left foot, again assisted by Pizarro. Rosario Central's third goal of the evening came in the 68th minute through Enzo Copetti, who finished from close range after a cross from Agustin Sandez. To cap off the scoring, in the 73rd minute, Marco Ruben, who had just come on, scored with his right foot off a cross from Ignacio Ovando following a corner kick.

Total control reflected in the numbers

The stats back up what was clear on the field: a match thoroughly dominated by Rosario Central, who created far more chances and finished with a lopsided edge in shots.

According to our expected goals estimate, calculated from the shots taken in the match, Rosario Central generated 3.83 xG compared to just 0.55 xG for Independiente Rivadavia, a gap that backs up just how one-sided the result was on the field.

The contrast with our pre-match projection is striking. Before kickoff, we had published a 39% win probability for Rosario Central, 33% for a draw and 28% for Independiente Rivadavia, with expected goals of just 1.17 for the home side and 0.96 for the visitors. Reality ended up far from that forecast: what looked like it would be an even matchup turned into one of those nights where everything goes right for one team and nothing goes right for the other.

What the result means in the standings

In Group B, Rosario Central came into the match as the leader with 22 points from 12 games, while Independiente Rivadavia sat in eighth place with 18 points, also from 12 games. The goal difference told the story before a ball was even kicked: Rosario Central arrived at plus 8, Independiente Rivadavia at minus 4, and tonight's rout only widened that gap.

For Rosario Central, the result stands as a complete performance: a well-taken penalty, an early concession that never rattled them, a numerical advantage fully exploited and substitutes who chipped in with goals of their own. For Independiente Rivadavia, on the other hand, it's a night to forget, defined by Arce's red card and by an attack that barely showed up against an opponent that gave it no breathing room at all in the second half.