River Plate Suffers Worst Start After Controversial Loss and AFA Tweet Deletion

River Plate is enduring a critical and unprecedented period, having lost their fourth consecutive match in the Clausura tournament. Their 1-0 defeat to Tigre on Saturday marks not only a string of losses but also their fourth consecutive game without scoring, setting new negative records in the club's history. This series of results constitutes the worst start to a professional tournament for the club.

Beyond the poor sporting performance and a weakened coaching situation under Eduardo Coudet, there is significant discontent within the River Plate community regarding what they perceive as biased refereeing. A key point of contention was a penalty not awarded to Ángel Correa in the first half against Tigre. Despite replays clearly showing a foul by Nahuel Banegas on Correa, the referee did not call a penalty, and the VAR did not intervene.

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In my opinion and from what everyone tells me, it's a clear penalty. It seems neither the referee nor those in VAR are ready for a competition like this. We have to win it on the field, against everything.

River's captain, Nicolás Otamendi, expressed his frustration, stating that the referee and VAR officials were not up to the standard required for the competition. He criticized the lack of accountability for refereeing errors. Adding to the controversy, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) initially posted a tweet featuring a photo of the disputed Correa incident but subsequently removed it. This action by the AFA, coupled with the on-field decisions, has intensified River Plate's anger, which also stems from a similar uncalled penalty against Barracas on July 25.

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The referees complain that we shouldn't talk about them, but they never admit a mistake. They aren't calling the small fouls, nothing. I don't understand who is in charge of the referees, but we have to deal with it.