River Plate vs Deportivo Tachira Prediction: Victory to evade Venezuelan visitors

River Plate are plotting a perfect home record in Copa Libertadores Group H as they prepare to host Deportivo Tachira at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires on Friday (KO, 01:00).

Read below for my River Plate vs Deportivo Tachira prediction as the visitors go in search of a first victory in this year's competition.

As expected, River Plate have stormed Group H, collecting 13 points from a possible 15 so far. The Argentine giants opened up their Libertadores campaign with a 2-0 win over Deportivo Tachira in Venezuela, scoring both goals in the second half through Sebastian Boselli and Nicolas Fonseca, before beating Nacional 2-0 in Buenos Aires and Libertad 2-1 in Paraguay.

Los Millonarios were then held to a 1-1 draw in Uruguay by Nacional before getting back on the winning trail by beating Libertad 2-0 at home.

However, they arrive into Friday's contest on the back of two defeats, the first of which saw them knocked out of the Copa Argentina on penalties by second-tier Temperley.

Deportivo Tachira, meanwhile, haven't played since a 1-0 home defeat to Nacional on May 15, a result which left them rooted to the bottom of Group H on a solitary point, which they picked up in a 1-1 draw with Libertad in San Cristobal.

Their two previous away outings in the group, against Libertad and Nacional, saw them lose 3-0 and 2-1 respectively.

The Venezuelans can still qualify for the Copa Sudamericana knockouts through third position, but they will need to beat River and hope Libertad lose at home to Nacional, while also needing to make up a seven-goal swing.

River Plate vs Deportivo Tachira Odds

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The Group H leaders are heavily fancied at 1/14 to record a perfect group campaign at home, giving them an implied win probability of 93.3%, while the visitors can be backed at 18/1 (5.3%) to record a famous victory.

A second stalemate of the group for both is available at 15/2, both teams to score at 13/8, and over 3.5 goals at 1/1.

River Plate to win both halves @ 4/5

It's difficult to extract much value from Friday's game when backing River as they are clear favourites to beat Deportivo Tachira, and easily so. However, we can get to just under evens by selecting them to win both halves against their Venezuelan opponents.

It took until the 72nd minute for Boselli to find the opener the last time these two sides met, but River are a different beast at home. Los Millonarios scored in both halves of a 2-0 victory over Nacional in Buenos Aires on April 12 and repeated that feat when beating Libertad by the same scoreline on May 15.

Deportivo Tachira, meanwhile, lost both halves in a 3-0 defeat to Libertad in Asuncion on April 10.

River need a point to make absolutely sure of finishing first in the group, and I think they will go one better by winning on Friday, and doing so comfortably.

Claudio Echeverri anytime goalscorer @ 7/4

The Manchester City-bound attacker has already scored once in the competition this year, netting the opening goal of a 2-0 win against Nacional at the Estadio Monumental, which was the second of three goals at his home stadium in 2024.

His most recent strike came in a 3-0 victory over Belgrano in the league on May 18, and he will be looking to make it three in six home games on Friday.

There's little value to be had in backing Miguel Borja (1/2) or Facundo Colidio (5/6) to score anytime, while third-favourite Pablo Solari (23/20) has only started one of his side's last four games.

Echeverri is someone that can strike the ball from distance, which might come in handy against a Deportivo Tachira outfit likely to sit back and pack the penalty area with defenders.

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