River eventually recovered from that devastating blow, coming back stronger than ever under the stewardship of Marcelo Gallardo. And having seen the likes of David Trezeguet, Fernando Cavenaghi and later Lucas Alario and Nacho Scocco score the goals that lifted the club from the Nacional B to champions of South America, Alvarez is now one of the first names on Gallardo s team sheet as he seeks to send the Buenos Aires giants to yet another Copa Libertadores final.
The 20-year-old has been around the River set-up for some time now, winning his maiden first-team call-up towards the end of 2018 and even playing the final few minutes in Madrid s Santiago Bernabeu as Gallardo s men downed Boca Juniors to be crowned South American champions in one of the most infamous Libertadores finals of all time.
River s quest began in subdued fashion with a 3-0 defeat away to Liga de Quito in Group D, but Marcelo Gallardo s charges quickly rediscovered their best form.
Peru s Binacional were thrashed 8-0 and 6-0 while the Millonario also picked up four points against a Sao Paulo team featuring Dani Alves, pushing the Brazilians into third place and the Copa Sudamericana while River qualified in first.
In the last-16 stage River dominated over Athletic Paranaense, racking up 39 shots over two legs to their opponents 14. Goals proved hard to come by, though, and after tying the first leg 1-1 in Coritiba a single strike from Nicolas de la Cruz saw the Argentines over the line.