On a complicated playing field due to its bad condition, both teams found it hard to stand comfortably in the first minutes. However, River was the first to create a goal opportunity with a shot by Cristian Ferreira from the outside which hit Adrián Gabbarini’s left angle. On its first opportunity, Liga de Quito scored the first goal by means of a header by Franklin Guerra out of a corner kick.

The home team threatened again with a shot by Junior Sornoza and a good response by Enrique Bologna. When River was better, it could have evened the score with a right-footed shot by Ferreira, by Liga stroke again with a goal by Cristian Borja, after a play on the left. El Millionario could have scored through a good shot by Jorge Carrascal, but Gabbarini responded well and deflected the ball out for a corner kick.

River started the second half better and had two clear chances of reducing the deficit, both at the feet of Julián Álvarez: first, a shot from outside the area which was grazed by Gabbarini and hit his right goalpost: then, with a deflected shot after an assist by Lucas Pratto. Liga finished it off in some fatal minutes for el Millonario: Bologna was expelled for a last-resort hand, in that free kick the referee penalized an inexistent penalty for a hand by Bruno Zuculini and Junior Sornoza turned it into a goal.

Thus, River started this new edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores cup with a fall. Next matchday, it will welcome Peru’s Binacional at the Monumental Stadium, but it will first visit Atletico Tucuman for the last Superleague matchday, where it will go after the national championship.