10 years have passed since the return of River Plate to First Division. In reality, it is an exact decade from the day he beat Almirante Brown 2-0 at the Monumental and thus signed his return to the highest category of Argentine soccer after becoming champion of the B Nacional tournament. Because the rise of the Millionaire was an incredible journey of almost a year in which he had to play against unprecedented rivals and visit unknown courts.
From Jujuy to Puerto Madryn as the extreme points of the map, the team led by Matias Almeyda traveled a total of 18,675 kilometers throughout the 38 dates that the championship lasted. In total he set foot in eight Argentine provinces, in addition to Buenos Aires, and a constant was the red and white tide that accompanied and burst the ticket offices in the different corners of the country.
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it was such the revolution that River generated in the interior of the countrythat already in the first excursion -to Mendoza to visit Independiente de Rivadavia in the Malvinas Argentinas stadium– put in check the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and the security agencies, which after four years they had to lift the measure of not allowing the fans of the visiting teams to enter.
10 years after River’s return to Primera: the trip to Puerto Madryn
Among the destinations he visited, the most exotic was surely the trip to Chubut to face Guillermo Brown from Puerto Madryn. That was the first game in which River he came face to face with the reality of Ascent and had to play in a typical stadium of the category, the Raúl Conti, also known as the Cemetery of Patagoniawith capacity for 15,000 people, of which the Millionaire only received 2,500 seats.
Even so, he was able to come out of that unprecedented experience very well: won 4-1 with goals from Lucas Ocampos, Alejandro “Chori” Domínguez and Fernando Cavenaghi twice.
10 years after River’s return to Primera: the defeat in Corrientes
After the game in the South, the next trip would be to the Litoral. To face the last date outside of Núñez in 2011, River returned to the field of Hurricane of Corrientes 15 years after the double visit for that match suspended after a stone hit goalkeeper Roberto Bonano and the resumption of the match a month later, on December 20, 1996, already with the team of Ramon Diaz Opening Tournament Champion.
On this occasion, his rival was Boca Unidos. Although for a moment there was speculation about leaving the province and playing in Resistencia, Chaco, in the Centenario stadium, which has the largest capacity, finally the game was played on the field of the Globo Corrientes, another small redoubt that was filled with 14,000 witness fans. of historic victory aurirrojo by 1-0, with a goal by Cristian Núñez.
10 years after River’s return to Primera: the visit to Isidro Casanova
Already in 2012, the first stop was another classic scenario of the Argentine Ascent. River never officially played against Admiral Brown. The only precedent was a friendly in 1979, when he visited him at the Fragata Sarmiento for the inauguration of a thousand stalls, and returned to Isidro Casanova to play for the points at the restart of the tournament after the summer break. Before 25,000 people, of whom 6,500 were millionaire supporters, it was 1-1 with goals from Cavenaghi and Daniel Vega.
10 years after River’s return to Primera: many resigned the locality
Later there was, with intentions and efforts to River in between, clubs that preferred to leave their fields and be local in stadiums with greater capacity to take advantage of the collection.
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Thus, in addition to that game that began the journey in the Malvinas de Mendoza and the move from Boca Unidos to the field of Huracán de Corrientes, River moved twice to City of La Plata Stadium (2-0 against Chacarita and 3-3 with Defensa y Justicia), faced Desamparados in the Saint John’s Bicentennial (4-1), tied goalless against Deportivo Merlo in the America’s Liberators and against the Institute of Córdoba in the Mario Alberto Kempesand lost 1-0 to Atlanta in the Joseph Amalfitani and with Board of Trustees Elephant Cemeteryas the Colón court in Santa Fe is popularly known.
