page_title: History of Club Atlético River Plate
section_title: 1940s: "La Máquina"
hierarchical_section_title: History of Club Atlético River Plate / 1940s: "La Máquina"
caption_attribution_description: Español: River campeón de 1945. Arriba: Yácono, Vaghi, Soriano, E. Rodríguez, Ramos y Rossi. Abajo: Muñoz, Gallo, Pedernera, Labruna y Loustau.
context_page_description: Club Atlético River Plate is a professional Argentine sports club based in the Nuñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The football team is one of the most successful of Argentina, having won the Primera División professional title a record 36 times. The club has also won 8 National cups.
  At international level, River Plate has won 16 international titles, with 11 titles recognised by FIFA and CONMEBOL, including the Copa Libertadores, Copa Intercontinental and Copa Sudamericana. Other international official titles include Rioplatenses competitions Copa Aldao and Tie Cup.
context_section_description: The decade of the 1940s is considered as one of the best eras in the history of the club, having won the league titles of 1941 (44 points, 19 wins, 6 draws and 5 losses; 75 goals scored) and 1942 (46 points, 20–6–4, 79 goals), national cups Carlos Ibarguren (1941–42) and Adrián Escobar (1941) and the international Copa Aldao in 1941, 1945 and 1947.
  1941 was one of the most successful years in club's history, so River Plate won four titles, the local championship, its third Copa Aldao defining the series against Nacional in two matches (with a thrashing 6–1 in the first game) and the Copa Ibarguren defeating Newell's Old Boys by 3–0 and the Copa Adrián C. Escobar beating Huracán. Four years later, River won two titles else, the 1945 league championship and another Copa Aldao defeating Peñarol for the third consecutive time (the squad won both games, in Montevideo and Buenos Aires).
  River would win its third Copa Ibarguren the following year, thrashing a Córdoba Province representative team by 7–0 in the final game.
  The team was also sub-champion in 1943 and 1944. River had a powerful attack nicknamed "La Máquina" ("The Machine"). The forwards were Juan Carlos Muñoz, José Manuel Moreno, Adolfo Pedernera, Ángel Labruna and Félix Loustau. That offensive line became a legend despite only playing 18 matches together. In 1945 River won another title, with Labruna being the top scorer with 25 goals. Moreno had left the club but other players (such as center-midfielder Néstor Rossi) had arrived.
  In 1947 River won a new league championship with 48 points, totaling 90 goals scored and only conceding 30. Some emerging players were goalkeeper Amadeo Carrizo and center-forward Alfredo Di Stéfano, which came from the youth categories. Di Stéfano was River top-scorer with 27 goals. The squad also won its 5th. Copa Aldao after defeating Nacional at the finals.
  After a footballers strike in 1948 many footballers went to Colombia, "Pipo" Rossi and Di Stefano were among them. River finished the 1948 and 1949 tournaments in 2nd position.
caption: In 1945 River won a league title and the Copa Aldao.
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