River Plate fans: small in number, big in spirit
▶ Premier League leaders increase gap with Mourinho’s men to 19 points after 3-1 victory
Supporting Argentinian football institution River Plate from the UAE is not easy.
The relatively low number of Argentine citizens living in the country can make the life of a fan a lonely one.
Many popular European teams have informal UAE supporters’ clubs where fans gather to watch matches together, but River fan Leo Vera knows only one other fan in the UAE.
The time difference means league matches kick off in the early hours and Mr Vera and his friend have to stay up late to catch the action on TV. But this week, the corporate finance director who was raised in Buenos Aires, will watch a game surrounded by thousands of his compatriots.
This month, River Plate were crowned the champions of the South American Copa Libertadores after the “game of the century” against fierce Buenos Aires rivals Boca Juniors in Madrid.
The victory meant the team qualified for the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, with River set to play Al Ain tomorrow at the city’s Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in a semi-final.
A win could mean the team will face Real Madrid in Abu Dhabi on Sunday if the European giants beat Kashima Antlers of Japan, the Asian champions, on Wednesday.
“You really don’t have a lot of Argentinians in the UAE and those who are here support a lot of different teams,” Mr Vera said. “So there aren’t many River Plate fans here and, of course, I never expected to watch River play in the UAE.
“As we were progressing in the Copa Libertadores I was thinking ‘maybe we have a chance’. Then we got to the final, beat Boca Juniors and I was there. Now they’re coming to Abu Dhabi. It should be the best end to the year ever.”
Mr Vera, 39, said he was looking forward to a more relaxed experience than the recent final against Boca. He attended that game at short notice after it was twice postponed because of crowd trouble in Argentina and moved more than 9,600 kilometres away to Spain.
The win was made all the sweeter because Mr Vera’s brother, Sebastian, a Boca supporter, had also travelled to the game from Argentina.
“It was funny as I bought the tickets in the River Plate stand,” Mr Vera said. “So he had to pretend he was happy.
“It was the most important game in Argentinian football history. If we lost, it would have been heartbreaking. But it was incredible – afterwards, it was a big party. Now, I’m really looking forward to the Club World Cup – it’s different because I feel like it doesn’t matter so much what happens.”
Mr Vera will attend tomorrow’s semi-final and is taking his son Matteo, 4, to Sunday’s game, when River will play in either a third-place play-off or the final.
After the Copa Libertadores win, the River Plate squad travelled straight to the UAE, and have been preparing for the Club World Cup from their base in the Hili Rayhaan hotel, near the Oman border.
Mr Vera said he did not expect River fans to travel to the finals in their tens of thousands, as they did the last time they qualified for the Club World Cup. In 2015, he was among the supporters to make the journey to Japan, when he recalls Yokohama becoming “just like Buenos Aires” as Argentinians took over the city.
“Last time, in 2015, the dynamics were different, people had six months to plan,” he said. “This time, people have had two weeks. And a lot felt they had to go to Madrid, which was another big expense. So I don’t expect loads of River fans – probably less than 5,000.
“The people who are going to come here will be people who have things in life other than football. In Argentina, there are fanatics who think it’s life or death, so get carried away. But the fans who come to the UAE will behave.
“If we’re lucky enough to win here, against Real Madrid, it doesn’t get any better.”
A win could mean the team will face Real Madrid in Abu Dhabi if the European giants beat Kashima Antlers of Japan
The lucky ones, Jose Mourinho had branded Liverpool.
If the fact that Manchester United were denied a draw by two deflected goals suggests he was right, there was nothing fortunate about this. Liverpool dominated a dreadful United team to return to the top of the league.
The 19-point gap in the table serves as an illustration of the gulf between rivals. It has rarely been wider and in Liverpool’s favour in three decades.
Mourinho has started to make jibes about the size of Liverpool’s spending but Xherdan Shaqiri, the substitute and scorer of that deflected double, represents a bargain at £13 million (Dh60m), one-seventh of the price of the unused Paul Pogba.
If the Swiss was a catalyst, so was Jurgen Klopp, who merits much of the credit. He switched Sadio Mane, the other scorer, to the left when Shaqiri came on.
The Senegalese made the initial incursion and, while his deflected cross came off David de Gea, he was nonetheless the instigator of the second goal just as, while Shaqiri’s drive went in via Ashley Young and the underside of the bar, he was the executioner.
A second Shaqiri shot took a telling touch off Eric Bailly. Yet as Liverpool had 36 shots, they did not just overcome United. They overwhelmed them.
They outplayed them, just as they have out-traded them in recent years. Mane was a player United coveted in 2015 and one Liverpool signed in 2016. His opener was taken with a touch of class. Fabinho chipped a pass over the packed United defence. Mane exposed how static they were with an angled run. He chested the ball down and slotted it past De Gea.
He highlights their differing fortunes in the transfer market, United’s of regret and Liverpool’s of coups. Fabinho, too, was linked with United and, if the Brazilian had a slow start at Anfield, his was a terrific display, justifying Klopp’s decision to select him ahead of Jordan Henderson.
He was at the heart of a superb display. Liverpool had more pace, more urgency, more cohesion and more of a gameplan. This was an indictment of Mourinho and his incoherent, expensive mediocrity. United were ragged. They adopted defensive tactics and still conceded; first shots and then goals.
The half-time removal of the booked Diogo Dalot and switch from a back five to a back four was an admission their strategy was not working. Liverpool still swarmed forward against a reconfigured side.
United defended deeper, leaving Romelu Lukaku stranded alone in attack, a spectator as Liverpool were relentless. Mane was excellent, Andrew Robertson irrepressible and Roberto Firmino indefatigable. The Brazilian has not always flourished as a No 10 but he did yesterday. But for De Gea, he would have scored, with the Spaniard saving a series of shots while Young cleared a Dejan Lovren effort off the line.
He had a busy day. Briefly, he thought he had put United ahead when his fourth-minute free kick went in, though the offside Lukaku was deemed to be interfering with play. The Belgian did contribute to a goal, the usually flawless Alisson spilling his cross for Jesse Lingard to stab in an equaliser.
United did not merit parity, but Shaqiri, with the aid of deflections, ensured they got their just desserts.