pure smile of Julian Alvarez sprouts at its best. He leaves the Monumental embracing the two balls he won. It is that he has just drawn a night for memory. Goal here, goal there, goal and more goal. Six goals in ninety minutes! Yes, historical sextet of the Argentine football sensation striker who will soon be under the command of Pep Guardiola at Man City. Never had a River footballer achieved something like this in his 121 years of life.
It happens no less than on the club’s birthday. What better gift for a River with a majestic story! It happens in a match in which there was nothing at stake, which seemed to be a compromise, because River was classified in advance as first for the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores. A victory against the fragile Alianza Lima from Peru was supposed, but this record was not imagined.
Hat trick of Julian in the initial period: first, he defined a one-on-one at the side of the goalkeeper; later, he anticipated throwing himself to the floor to get to the ball; and then he took an exact shot from outside the area against a post. Sensational.
Hat-trick also from Álvarez in the second stage: on his fourth scream he stole it from the goalkeeper at the start and pushed it; in the fifth, he escaped and touched her classy mid-height; and in the sixth, he accelerated, dribbled two rivals and crossed it down. Fabulous.
River he won 8-1 against Lima Alliance at the Monumental stadium, at the end of group F. The other two goals were scored by Santiago Simón and Elías Gómez. Two celebrations that were lost in the fascinating production of Julián Álvarez, who broke the record in the millionaire club held by three players with five goals in a game: Louis Rongo (to Ferro in 1939), Leopoldo Luque (to San Lorenzo in 1976) and Ignacio Scocco (to Jorge Wilstermann in 2017).
Besides, Álvarez became the second player to score a sextet in the history of the Copa Libertadores, equaling what Juan Carlos Sánchez had achieved playing for Blooming in 1985. And if it were, in the Gallardo Era, he has already scored 51 goals, while the top scorer since the Muñeco led River is the Colombian Rafael Santos Borré with 55.
Julian Alvarez He will have to leave on June 30 for Manchester City, who bought his pass a couple of months ago by paying 25 million euros. “We would be very grateful if they leave it here until the end of the year. Replacing Julián is not going to be easy because we are not going to find a Julián who comes to play for Julián”, assured Marcelo Gallardo. Wow, he’s right.
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