River lift Recopa with 3-0 win over Athletico Paranaense
Soccer Football - Recopa Sudamericana - Second Leg - River Plate v Athletico Paranaense - Antonio Vespucio Liberti Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina - May 30, 2019 River Plate's Franco Armani, Javier Pinola and Leonardo Ponzio lift the trophy as they celebrate winning the Recopa REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Stoppage time goals from Lucas Pratto and Matias Suarez helped River Plate to a 3-0 win over Athletico Paranaense on Thursday and gave the Argentine club their third South American Recopa triumph.
The Brazilians won the first leg by a solitary goal but goals in the 91st and 94th minutes followed an earlier strike from Ignacio Fernandez and were enough to make it 3-1 on aggregate and secure a trophy decided annually between the winners of South America's two premier club competitions.
Soccer Football - Recopa Sudamericana - Second Leg - River Plate v Athletico Paranaense - Antonio Vespucio Liberti Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina - May 30, 2019 River Plate's Javier Pinola celebrates with the trophy after winning the Recopa REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
River's opener came from a VAR-assisted penalty in the 64th minute. Goalkeeper Santos stopped Fernandez's spot kick but the midfielder followed up to open the scoring.
Pratto made it 2-0 with a lovely finish in the dying seconds before Suarez guaranteed the win when he rounded Santos and slotted the ball into the empty net.
It was River's third Recopa following triumphs in 2015 and 2016.
Soccer Football - Recopa Sudamericana - Second Leg - River Plate v Athletico Paranaense - Antonio Vespucio Liberti Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina - May 30, 2019 River Plate's Leonardo Ponzio lifts the trophy as they celebrate winning the Recopa REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
Athletico were in the final after beating Junior of Colombia to win the Sudamericana, the regional equivalent of the Europa League.
River qualified after beating city rivals Boca Juniors to win the Copa Libertadores in a game moved to Madrid because of crowd trouble in Argentina.
Soccer Football - Recopa Sudamericana - Second Leg - River Plate v Athletico Paranaense - Antonio Vespucio Liberti Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina - May 30, 2019 River Plate's Lucas Pratto scores their second goal REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
Soccer Football - Recopa Sudamericana - Second Leg - River Plate v Athletico Paranaense - Antonio Vespucio Liberti Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina - May 30, 2019 River Plate's Lucas Pratto scores their second goal REUTERS/Agustin MarcarianSoccer Football - Recopa Sudamericana - Second Leg - River Plate v Athletico Paranaense - Antonio Vespucio Liberti Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina - May 30, 2019 Athletico Paranaense's Renan Lodi in action with River Plate's Enzo Perez REUTERS/Agustin MarcarianSoccer Football - Recopa Sudamericana - Second Leg - River Plate v Athletico Paranaense - Antonio Vespucio Liberti Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina - May 30, 2019 River Plate's Lucas Martinez Quarta in action with Athletico Paranaense's Rony REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
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