Overview
- River submitted a formal request to the AFA asking that referee Nicolás Ramírez not be assigned to any of the club's matches, a move the president framed as a response to repeated controversial decisions.
- Stéfano Di Carlo confirmed on Wednesday that Leonardo Ponzio will remain as interim coach until the end of the year and that the club will evaluate the permanent coaching choice after the season closes.
- The complaint follows River’s 1-0 loss to Boca at La Bombonera in which Lucas Martínez Quarta and Gonzalo Montiel were sent off and the club says those expulsions and VAR interventions harmed the team’s performance.
- Ponzio travels to face Aldosivi with forced defensive changes for the expulsions, several injury absences, and the inclusion of youth players for their first senior call-ups as River seeks the points needed to secure a strong playoff seed.
- Di Carlo defended roughly US$70 million spent on new signings as the foundation of a multi-year project and said the formal protest reflects a longer history of friction with AFA refereeing that could prompt a wider debate on assignments and VAR oversight.