2019–20 Club Atlético River Plate season

Zacarías Morán agreed a loan move to Chacarita Juniors on 18 June 2019.^[2] Maximiliano Velazco's loan with Defensores de Belgrano, which was set to expire on 30 June, was extended on 20 June.^[3][4] Camilo Mayada headed to Mexico with Atlético San Luis on 22 June.^[5][6] River Plate toured the United States for pre-season, with the first match being played on 27 June against Ventura County Fusion at the Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Los Angeles as they ran out 5–0 winners; with Lucas Beltrán netting twice.^[7][8] On that same day, Héctor Martínez departed on loan to Defensa y Justicia.^[9] Their second friendly took place on 28 June, as they scored five again after defeating Guadalajara of Liga MX in game one of the Colossus Cup.^[10][11] 29 June saw Alexander Barboza go to Independiente.^[12]

Numerous loans from the previous campaign officially expired on and around 30 June.^[13] River met Ventura County Fushion of USL League Two for a secondary match-up on 4 July, with Jorge Carrascal scoring four times in a 7–0 victory.^[14][15] Luciano Lollo was loaned to Banfield on 6 July.^[16][17] On matchday two of the Colossus Cup, River beat another Mexican team in América with goals from Julián Álvarez and Cristian Ferreira.^[18]

Gimnasia y Esgrima (M) were defeated in the Copa Argentina R32 on 16 July, though it took a 4–5 penalty shoot-out win to do so.^[19] Carlos Auzqui went off on loan to Lanús on 17 July.^[20][21] On 23 July, River Plate met Brazilian club Cruzeiro in the first leg of a Copa Libertadores round of sixteen encounter, as the two played out a goalless draw at Estadio Monumental.^[22] River travelled to Argentinos Juniors in game one of the 2019–20 Primera División, subsequently coming away with a point.^[23] On 30 July, after they again drew 0–0 with Cruzeiro in the Copa Libertadores, River Plate advanced to the next round following a penalty shoot-out victory.^[24]

On 1 August, Joaquín Arzura headed out on loan to Huracán.^[25][26] Hours later, River announced their first signing of the new campaign as Paulo Díaz arrived from Al-Ahli of the Saudi Professional League.^[27][28] River built upon their point on the opening day in the Primera División over Argentinos Juniors with a 3–0 win versus Lanús on 4 August on home soil.^[29] Alan Marcel Picazzo joined Villa Dálmine on loan on 8 August.^[30][31] River beat All Boys 7–0 and 5–1 in friendlies on 9 August, with Matías Suárez netting a hat-trick in the former while Ignacio Scocco scored a brace in the latter.^[32] 10 August saw Santiago Vera leave River Plate, as the midfielder agreed terms on a move to Paraguayan Primera División outfit Olimpia.^[33] Colo-Colo revealed the loan signing of Iván Rossi on 13 August.^[34][35]

River, for the first time since 1962, put six goals past reigning champions Racing Club away from home in the league on 17 August.^[36] River Plate defeated Cerro Porteño in the first leg of a Copa Libertadores quarter-final on 22 August, winning 2–0 after Ignacio Fernández and Rafael Santos Borré netted spot-kicks.^[37] River's first league loss came three days later, as Talleres won at the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti for the first time in twenty-nine years.^[38] On 29 August, River progressed to the Copa Libertadores semi-finals after beating Paraguayan side Cerro Porteño 3–1 on aggregate, having drawn 1–1 in the second leg in Asunción.^[39]

River opened September with a Superclásico at home to Boca Juniors, which ended drawn after no goals were scored.^[40] On 22 September, they got their second loss of the season, losing 2–1 at home to Vélez Sarsfield. They ended the month with a 2–0 victory against Gimnasia.

On the first day of October, River beat rivals Boca in a tense first leg of the Libertadores semi-finals 2–0 with goals from Borre and Fernandez.^[41] Ten days later, they beat Primera Nacional club Almagro in the Copa Argentina quarter-final, then followed this up with a 3–3 draw against Arsenal. On 22 October, River lost the second leg of the Libertadores semi-finals against Boca 1–0, but progressed to the final 2–1 on aggregate.^[42] River ended the month with a 2–1 victory against Colon.

On 14 November, River beat Primera Nacional club and fellow Buenos Aires club Estudiantes de Buenos Aires in the Copa Argentina semi-final. A week later they lost the Copa Libertadores final against Flamengo. River were leading 1-0 until the 88th minute of the game through a goal from Santos Borre, but two goals from Gabriel Barbosa in six minutes gave Flamengo their second Copa Libertadores.^[43] River ended the month on a positive note, with a 2–3 away victory vs Newell's Old Boys.

December began with a home loss against rivals San Lorenzo. Five days later, River beat Central Córdoba 3–0 in the Copa Argentina Final, in their last game of 2019.

River Plate began the new year with a 2–1 victory against rivals Independiente at Estadio Libertadores de América. They followed this victory with another away victory against Godoy Cruz.

Domestic transfer windows:^[92]
3 July 2019 to 24 September 2019
20 January 2020 to 19 February 2020.

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Ref.
1 August 2019	CB		Paulo Díaz	Al-Ahli	[27][28]

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Ref.
22 June 2019	AM		Camilo Mayada	Atlético San Luis	[5][6]
3 July 2019[a]	CB		Alexander Barboza	Independiente	[93][12]
10 August 2019	RM		Santiago Vera	Olimpia	[94][33]

Start date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	End date	Ref.
3 July 2019[b]	CM		Zacarías Morán	Chacarita Juniors	30 June 2020	[95][2]
3 July 2019[c]	CB		Héctor Martínez	Defensa y Justicia	30 June 2020	[96][9]
6 July 2019	CB		Luciano Lollo	Banfield	30 June 2020	[16][17]
17 July 2019	AM		Carlos Auzqui	Lanús	30 June 2020	[20][21]
1 August 2019	CM		Joaquín Arzura	Huracán	30 June 2020	[25][26]
8 August 2019	FW		Alan Marcel Picazzo	Villa Dálmine	30 June 2020	[30][31]
13 August 2019	CM		Iván Rossi	Colo-Colo	30 June 2020	[34][35]

In June 2019, River Plate were announced as one of four clubs, alongside Guadalajara, América and Boca Juniors, that would take part in the inaugural Colossus Cup in the United States.^[97] They were scheduled to face the Liga MX duo at SDCCU Stadium in San Diego on 28 June and at CenturyLink Field in Seattle on 6 July.^[97][98] A day before facing Guadalajara, the club took on USL League Two side Ventura County Fusion in a friendly match.^[7][8] They met the American outfit again on 4 July.^[99]

  Win   Draw   Loss

River Plate v Ventura County Fusion

27 June 2019 Friendly	River Plate	5–0	Ventura County Fusion	Los Angeles, United States
	J. Carrascal L. Beltrán C. Ferreira B. Rollheiser	River Plate TyC Sports		Stadium: Wallis Annenberg Stadium

Guadalajara v River Plate

28 June 2019 Colossus Cup: 1	Guadalajara	1–5	River Plate	San Diego, United States
20:15 GMT-7	M. Ortiz 63'	River Plate Vavel	N. De La Cruz 27', 46' R. Borré 37' I. Fernández 68' B. Rollheiser 76'	Stadium: SDCCU Stadium Referee: Kyle Burkhardt (United States)

River Plate v Ventura County Fusion

4 July 2019 Friendly	River Plate	7–0	Ventura County Fusion	Los Angeles, United States
	J. Carrascal B. Rollheiser N. Gallardo E. Pérez	River Plate AS		Stadium: Wallis Annenberg Stadium

América v River Plate

6 July 2019 Colossus Cup: 2	América	0–2	River Plate	Seattle, United States
17:00 GMT-7		River Plate El Comercio	J. Álvarez 15' C. Ferreira 20'	Stadium: CenturyLink Field Referee: Brad Jensen (United States)

River Plate and All Boys (Primera B Nacional) scheduled a friendly with each other for 9 August, in Ezeiza at River Camp.^[100]

  Win   Draw   Loss

River Plate v All Boys

9 August 2019 Friendly	River Plate	7–0	All Boys	Ezeiza, Argentina
09:00 GMT-3	M. Suárez E. Palacios I. Fernández L. Martínez Quarta J. Carrascal			Stadium: River Camp Attendance: 0[d]

River Plate v All Boys

9 August 2019 Friendly	River Plate	5–1	All Boys	Ezeiza, Argentina
	I. Scocco B. Rollheiser C. Ferreira J. Álvarez		F. Cardozo	Stadium: River Camp Attendance: 0[e]

Source: AFA

The fixtures for the 2019–20 campaign were released on 10 July.^[101]

  Win   Draw   Loss

Argentinos Juniors v River Plate

27 July 2019 1	Argentinos Juniors	1–1	River Plate	Buenos Aires, Argentina
20:00 GMT-3	D. Batallini 19'	River Plate Infobae Soccerway	J. Carrascal 85'	Stadium: Estadio Diego Armando Maradona Referee: Fernando Rapallini (Argentina)

River Plate v Lanús

4 August 2019 2	River Plate	3–0	Lanús	Buenos Aires, Argentina
17:45 GMT-3	R. Borré 23' (pen.) M. Suárez 30', 87'	River Plate Infobae Soccerway		Stadium: Estadio Monumental Referee: Germán Delfino (Argentina)

Racing Club v River Plate

17 August 2019 3	Racing Club	1–6	River Plate	Avellaneda, Argentina
20:00 GMT-3	A. Solari 3'	River Plate Infobae Soccerway	R. Borré 35', 36' M. Suárez 38' I. Fernández 64' (pen.) N. De La Cruz 68' I. Scocco 71'	Stadium: Estadio Presidente Juan Domingo Perón Referee: Patricio Loustau (Argentina)

River Plate v Talleres

25 August 2019 4	River Plate	0–1	Talleres	Buenos Aires, Argentina
17:45 GMT-3		River Plate Infobae Soccerway	N. Bustos 63'	Stadium: Estadio Monumental Referee: Néstor Pitana (Argentina)

River Plate began their cup run against Primera B Nacional side Gimnasia y Esgrima (M) on 16 July 2019, at the Estadio Único in Villa Mercedes. The game was narrow with River needing penalties to eliminate the ambitious second-tier club. In the round of 16, River disposed of Godoy Cruz courtesy of an own goal. In the quarter-finals, River beat another second-tier club, Club Almagro, on their way to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals they faced tournament surprise Estudiantes, beating them 2–0 and advancing to the final where they beat Central Cordoba 3–0.

  Win   Draw   Loss

Gimnasia y Esgrima (M) v River Plate

16 July 2019 R32	Gimnasia y Esgrima (M)	1–1 (4–5 p)	River Plate	Villa Mercedes, Argentina
21:10 GMT-3	R. Vera 70'	River Plate Infobae Soccerway	E. Palacios 66'	Stadium: Estadio Único Referee: Andrés Merlos (Argentina)
	Penalties
	L. Aguirre B. Zabaleta T. Marchiori B. Andrada L. Carrizo		I. Fernández N. De La Cruz C. Ferreira R. Borré B. Rollheiser

Godoy Cruz v River Plate

18 September 2019 R16	Godoy Cruz	0–1	River Plate	Lanús, Argentina
21:10		Report	Varela 21' (o.g.)	Stadium: Ciudad de Lanús – Néstor Díaz Pérez Referee: Facundo Tello

River Plate v Almagro

11 October 2019 QF	River Plate	2–0	Almagro	Mendoza, Argentina
20:30	Borré 6' Scocco 57'	Report		Stadium: Malvinas Argentinas Referee: Ariel Penel

River Plate v Estudiantes (BA)

14 November 2019 SF	River Plate	2–0	Estudiantes (BA)	Córdoba, Argentina
21:10	Pinola 45+2' Palacios 90+5'	Report		Stadium: Mario Alberto Kempes Referee: Mauro Vigliano

Central Córdoba (SdE) v River Plate

13 December 2019 F	Central Córdoba (SdE)	0–3	River Plate	Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza, Argentina
21:10		Report	Scocco 30' Fernández 67' Álvarez 71'	Referee: Facundo Tello

River Plate were drawn with Brazil's Cruzeiro in the Copa Libertadores round of 16, beating them on penalties after subsequent 0-0 draws. In the quarter-finals River beat Cerro Porteño 3-1 on aggregate. Local rivals Boca Juniors were disposed of in the semi-finals, in what was a rematch of the 2018 finals.^[102] River were paired up with Brazilian champions Flamengo in the final, who made a comeback in four minutes to take the title from River.

  Win   Draw   Loss

Cruzeiro v River Plate

30 July 2019 R16 L2	Cruzeiro	0–0 (0–0 agg.) (2–4 p)	River Plate	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
19:15 GMT-3		River Plate Infobae Soccerway		Stadium: Mineirão Referee: Roberto Tobar (Chile)
	Penalties
	Henrique Fred David Robinho		N. De La Cruz G. Montiel L. Martínez Quarta R. Borré

River Plate v Cerro Porteño

22 August 2019 QF L1	River Plate	2–0	Cerro Porteño	Buenos Aires, Argentina
19:15 GMT-3	I. Fernández 8' (pen.) R. Borré 65' (pen.)	River Plate Infobae Soccerway		Stadium: Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti Referee: Víctor Carrillo (Peru)

Cerro Porteño v River Plate

29 August 2019 QF L2	Cerro Porteño	1–1 (1–3 agg.)	River Plate	Asunción, Paraguay
18:15 GMT-4	N. Haedo Valdez 8'	River Plate Infobae Soccerway	N. De La Cruz 52'	Stadium: Estadio General Pablo Rojas Referee: Julio Bascuñán (Chile)

Flamengo v River Plate

23 November 2019 F	Flamengo	2–1	River Plate	Lima, Peru
15:00 UTC−5	Gabriel Barbosa 89', 90+2'		R. Borre 12'	Stadium: Estadio Monumental Attendance: 78,573

On 12 March 2020, CONMEBOL announced that the tournament would be suspended after matchday 2 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with matches on matchday 3, originally scheduled for 17–19 March 2020, postponed to a later date.^[103] On 17 April 2020, CONMEBOL announced that the tournament would be suspended indefinitely, and no date had been set for its resumption.^[104] On 10 July 2020, CONMEBOL announced the new schedule for the remainder of the competition,^[105] with the updated fixtures announced on 26 August 2020 to begin with matchday 3 on 15 September 2020.^{[106][107][108]}

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RIV	LDQ	SPA	BIN
1	River Plate	6	4	1	1	21	6	+15	13	Round of 16		—	3–0	2–1	8–0
2	LDU Quito	6	4	0	2	12	8	+4	12			3–0	—	4–2	4–0
3	São Paulo	6	2	1	3	14	11	+3	7	Copa Sudamericana		2–2	3–0	—	5–1
4	Binacional	6	1	0	5	3	25	−22	3			0–6	0–1	2–1	—

  Win   Draw   Loss

No.	Pos.	Nationality	Name	League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total		Discipline		Ref
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK		Franco Armani	5	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	9	0	0	0	[44]
2	RB		Robert Rojas	3	0	0	0	0	0	3(1)	0	6(1)	0	1	0	[48]
4	LB		Fabrizio Angileri	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	1	0	[49]
5	CM		Bruno Zuculini	2(1)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3(1)	0	3	0	[58]
6	CB		Paulo Díaz	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	[50]
7	LW		Matías Suárez	3(1)	3	0	0	0	0	3(1)	0	6(2)	3	1	0	[70]
8	AM		Jorge Carrascal	2(1)	1	0	0	0	0	1(1)	0	3(2)	1	2	0	[59]
9	CF		Julián Álvarez	0(2)	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2(2)	0	1	0	[71]
10	AM		Juan Fernando Quintero	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[60]
11	AM		Nicolás De La Cruz	3(1)	1	0(1)	0	0	0	3(1)	1	6(3)	2	3	0	[61]
12	GK		Ezequiel Centurión	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[45]
13	CM		Santiago Sosa	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[62]
14	GK		Germán Lux	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	[109]
15	AM		Exequiel Palacios	4(1)	0	1	1	0	0	3(1)	0	8(2)	1	1	0	[63]
16	CB		Kevin Sibille	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[51]
17	RB		Elías López	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	[52]
18	FW		Benjamín Rollheiser	1	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	1(1)	0	1	0	[72]
19	CF		Rafael Santos Borré	3(2)	3	1	0	0	0	3	1	7(2)	4	1	0	[73]
20	RB		Milton Casco	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	7	0	4	0	[53]
21	LM		Cristian Ferreira	1(3)	0	0(1)	0	0	0	0(2)	0	1(6)	0	0	0	[64]
22	LB		Javier Pinola	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	2	1	[54]
23	CM		Leonardo Ponzio	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	[65]
24	RM		Enzo Pérez	4	0	1	0	0	0	3	0	8	0	6	0	[66]
25	GK		Enrique Bologna	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[47]
26	AM		Ignacio Fernández	3	1	1	0	0	0	4	1	8	2	2	0	[67]
27	CF		Lucas Pratto	3(1)	0	0	0	0	0	1(3)	0	4(4)	0	0	0	[74]
28	CB		Lucas Martínez Quarta	4	0	1	0	0	0	4	0	9	0	1	0	[55]
29	CB		Gonzalo Montiel	3	0	1	0	0	0	4	0	8	0	2	0	[56]
32	RW		Ignacio Scocco	1(2)	1	0	0	0	0	0(2)	0	1(4)	1	0	0	[75]
33	CB		Héctor Martínez	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[78]
34	CF		Lucas Beltrán	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[110]
35	CF		Federico Girotti	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[77]
36	LB		Nahuel Gallardo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[57]
37	CM		Enzo Fernández	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[68]
38	FW		Alan Marcel Picazzo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[79]
39	MF		Hernán López	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[69]
–	AM		Tomás Andrade	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[80]
–	CM		Joaquín Arzura	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[81]
–	AM		Carlos Auzqui	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[82]
–	GK		Augusto Batalla	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[83]
–	CF		Marcelo Larrondo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[84]
–	CB		Luciano Lollo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[85]
–	CM		Zacarías Morán	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[86]
–	RM		Jorge Moreira	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[87]
–	AM		Matías Moya	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[88]
–	LB		Luis Olivera	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[89]
–	CM		Iván Rossi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[90]
–	CB		Leandro Vega	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[111]
–	GK		Maximiliano Velazco	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[91]
Own goals				—	0	—	0	—	0	—	0	—	0	—	—	—
Players who left during the season
31	RM		Santiago Vera	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	[112]

Statistics accurate as of 2 September 2019.

Rank	Pos	No.	Nat	Name	League	Cup	League Cup	Continental	Total	Ref
1	CF	19		Rafael Santos Borré	12	2	0	3	17	[73]
2	LW	7		Matías Suárez	7	0	0	0	7	[70]
3	AM	26		Ignacio Fernández	5	1	0	2	8	[67]
	AM	11		Nicolás De La Cruz	4	0	0	1	5	[61]
4	AM	15		Exequiel Palacios	1	2	0	0	1	[63]
	AM	8		Jorge Carrascal	1	0	0	0	1	[59]
	RW	32		Ignacio Scocco	1	0	0	0	1	[75]
Own goals					0	0	0	0	0	[1]
Totals					10	1	0	3	14	—