Independiente Rivadavia holds off Aldosivi 4-3 in seven-goal thriller

Nine minutes in and the scoring was already open. Gonzalo Rios put Independiente Rivadavia ahead with a crossing shot after a cross from Alex Arce, and what looked like the start of a quiet afternoon at Bautista Gargantini turned into a roller coaster that finished 4-3 in favor of the home side, with Aldosivi pushing all the way to the final whistle.

Tomas Fernandez leveled the score just three minutes after the opening goal, but Independiente Rivadavia went back in front almost immediately: in the 18th minute, Jose Florentin headed home from close range off a corner from Rios to make it 2-1, a goal that needed a VAR review before it was confirmed. That's how the first half ended, though not without more drama: in first-half stoppage time, another refereeing intervention changed the story. In the 42nd minute Nicolas Cordero committed a handball penalty inside the box, the play went to VAR and was confirmed, and once the second half got underway, in the 47th minute, Alex Arce converted the penalty to make it 3-1.

Aldosivi, refusing to give in, found its reward in the 58th minute: Lucas Castro headed in a cross from Tomas Fernandez to make it 3-2 and put the game back in the balance. Independiente Rivadavia answered with Arce's second goal of the night, in the 74th minute, a shot from the middle of the box assisted by Matias Fernandez that made it 4-2 and seemed to seal the result. But there was no such final word: deep into stoppage time, in the 91st minute, Joaquin Pombo capitalized on a free kick to pull one back and set the final score at 4-3, a heart-stopping finish to a game that never eased off the pace.

Numbers from a game even on the scoreboard, uneven in the data

The numbers tell a different story than the result: Aldosivi generated more offensive volume, though it wasn't enough to take home points.

Aldosivi finished with ten more shots and nearly triple the corners, but the home side was the more clinical team. According to our xG estimate calculated from the match's shots, Independiente Rivadavia generated 2.67 expected goals to Aldosivi's 2.55, a razor-thin difference that reflects just how even the contest was despite the final four-three scoreline.

The preview we published ahead of the match gave Independiente Rivadavia a 64% chance of winning, against 12% for Aldosivi and 24% for a draw, with expected goals of 1.85 for the home side and 0.69 for the visitors. The result ended up proving the favorite right, though in a much more open game than those numbers suggested: between the two teams there were seven goals, well above the projected total of 2.54.

What it means in the standings

In Group B, Independiente Rivadavia came into this match with 14 points from nine games (four wins, two draws and three losses), while Aldosivi had just 5 points in the same number of matches, with only one win, two draws and six losses. The nine point gap between the two sides ahead of this meeting already pointed to the favorite, and the win stretches that gap even further for the home side. For Aldosivi, the resistance shown in the closing minutes wasn't enough to earn points, but it did show that the team doesn't quit until the final whistle, something made clear by Pombo's late goal with the clock already working against them.