Thiago Almada’s Late Goal Seals River Plate Win After Bus Drama
Thiago Almada struck in stoppage time to hand River a dramatic 2-1 win at Tucumán on Saturday, after an extraordinary travel problem threatened to disrupt their build-up to kick-off.
Key takeaways
- River’s original team bus became stranded on a hotel exit ramp before the trip to Estadio José Fierro.
- The club arranged replacement transport and the squad arrived in time to complete its usual warm-up.
- Tucumán lost Franco Nicola to an early straight red card.
- Tobías Andrada opened the scoring before Clever Ferreira brought the hosts level late on.
- New arrival Almada settled the match in added time.
Bus problem fails to derail River
River’s departure was delayed when the rear of their coach struck the tarmac on the hotel ramp, leaving the front end raised and the vehicle unable to move forward.
The bus was eventually released with no serious damage reported, but club officials had already acted to bring in another vehicle for the players and coaching staff. The switch was completed without further trouble, allowing the travelling party to reach the stadium on schedule.
Despite the unexpected disruption, River’s pre-match preparations were not affected by the transport change.
Almada delivers late winner as Huracán await
Leonardo Ponzio’s team took advantage after Tucumán went down to 10 men early in the contest, with Nicola sent off directly. Andrada then put River ahead soon afterwards.
Ferreira appeared to have rescued a point for the home side with a late equaliser, only for Almada to intervene at the death and secure all three points for River.
River now return to the Monumental next Saturday to face Huracán in their 10th league match of the campaign. Another home victory would strengthen their position among the early leaders.
