River Plate blows past Belgrano with a crushing 3-0 win in Cordoba

It took River Plate just two minutes to blow open a match that had been even up to that point. Right at the start of the second half, Tomas Galvan opened the scoring and Angel Correa doubled it a minute later, and that put an end to any doubt about where the three points at the Mario Alberto Kempes were headed. The final score, 0-3 in River Plate's favor, ended up being a lopsided margin for a game that the first half had not hinted at.

Through the opening 45 minutes, Belgrano had held its own using the very tools that define its identity: long balls into the area, second-ball situations and some insistence down the flanks. In fact, according to the match stats, the home side created three clear-cut chances to River Plate's one, with Lucas Passerini and Ramiro Hernandes producing the clearest shots, both of which were stopped. In the middle of the half, in the 28th minute, VAR reviewed a possible red card for Lisandro Lopez and decided not to issue it, one of the tensest moments of the opening period.

The turning point

The match changed complexion right at the start of the second half. In the 47th minute, Tomas Galvan curled a right-footed effort from outside the box after an assist from Gonzalo Montiel, in a play that needed a VAR review before being confirmed. A minute later, Angel Correa extended the lead with a right-footed shot from the center of the box, set up by a pass from Lucas Beltran. In barely 60 seconds, River Plate had flipped the script of the match.

Belgrano tried to respond, with Lisandro Lopez, Emiliano Rigoni and Lucas Passerini creating danger off a corner early in the second half, but none of it found the net. River Plate, meanwhile, managed the result and struck again in the 71st minute: Thiago Almada finished with his right foot from the center of the box, assisted by Galvan, to make it 3-0. Deep into stoppage time, in the 90th minute, Angel Correa completed his brace with a shot from the right side of the box off a pass from Almada, a goal that also went to VAR before being confirmed.

What the numbers say

River Plate dominated possession and chance creation overall, though the clear-cut chances stat favored Belgrano, which simply could not convert its opportunities.

The xG generated in the match, an in-house estimate calculated from shot location, came out nearly even: 1.48 for Belgrano and 1.504 for River Plate. That closeness in the numbers makes clear that the final four-goal margin did not fully reflect how chances were shared out over the 90 minutes: River Plate was simply far more efficient when it mattered.

The contrast also shows up against what we had projected before kickoff. Beforehand, the forecast split the probabilities almost evenly: 33% for a Belgrano win, 35% for a draw and 32% for a visiting win, with a combined expected goals total of 1.93 between both sides. What actually happened strayed well away from that balanced scenario: River Plate did not just win, it won by a wide margin that the preview numbers never suggested.

What it means in the standings

In Group B, Belgrano came into this match in third place with 22 points, the product of 6 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses in 13 games played. River Plate sat fifth, with 20 points from 13 appearances (6 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses). The gap between the two sides before this meeting was just 2 points, something this result took care of shifting in the visitors' favor.

For Belgrano, the takeaway is clear: a competitive first half was not enough to hold up against the changes River Plate brought in the second. For River Plate, on the other hand, the match will be remembered as a show of ruthlessness: with two goals in two minutes it settled a game that had been wide open until that point, and ended up piling on a rout that neither the preview nor the first-half action had made seem likely.