The League Cup It became a deep wound for River and, in particular, for its technical director Martin Demichelis. To qualify for the playoffs they had to go into the second half of the last date of the regular stage against Instituto: an illuminated Facundo Colidio, with a hat trick, offered the light, the pass, first place and a change of atmosphere.
But In Núñez the energy mutates from one game to another and even within the same match: the superclásico was a sample of those ups and downs that teaches a structure that when it commands and dominates minimizes the rival and excites with glory, but that if it stops setting the pulse it becomes naked, full of errors and languishes. For the coach, Not achieving football stability, a collective performance that strengthens the idea so as not to depend on the genius of individualities remains a pending matter.. The elimination against Boca had multiple peaks of emotion, the same states that she expressed with the Demichelis gestures.
A direct elimination always leaves consequences and River, which managed to take the lead in the result, did not have the intelligence or character to round out the classification. Errors that are repeated, such as a defense that does not offer guarantees mainly from its sides, added to the lack of dominance in the midfielder’s area, which is usually a strength. The tweaks that Demichelis chose had no impact on the development and frustration enveloped everyone. “I think we had a good first half, we started better than the rival. Until the free kick that Zenón took, they did not create any risk for us. We find spaces and mechanisms, We were dominant, but the classics and especially the superclassic are experienced with a lot of emotions, for better and for worse,” said Demichelis.
And followed: “They found the goal in the final minute of the first half and got better. At the beginning of the second half with the disallowed goal play, they came out stronger mentally or emotionally., we got 2-1 in a play that we couldn’t reject and although we had rebellion and attitude to go forward, it wasn’t enough for us. The second half was very short, there were not two or three minutes of fluidity and that hurts us,” said the River coach in the press conference, minutes after visiting the referees’ locker room.
He maintained brief contact with judge Yael Falcón Pérez on the playing field and later spoke again, although in the conversation with the media he dismissed it as a complaint, a claim for the VAR’s action that invalidated the goal in against Cristian Lema, which meant 2-1 for River when the second half began. “I never spoke nor will I speak about the referees. I went to apologize, because at the end of the game any of the boys could have said something and nothing more. I wanted him to know how to understand the emotions of the game, but he told me that there was nothing”, he tried to avoid the response about the VAR’s decision – Jorge Baliño and Gastón Suárez were there, replacing Lucas Novelli, appointed in the first instance – to annul Falcón Pérez’s sanction. “I don’t know, I didn’t see it”was the blunt response to the controversy that surrounded the game.
All the emotions in Córdoba
Standing and dressed entirely in black – shirt, pants, jacket with the embroidered shield at heart level, and shoes -, hands clasped hidden behind his back, Demichelis even gave up the dominance that the markers endorsed in the last crossings. Under his guidance, River had two wins and a draw against Boca; the triumph over Rosario Central in the Champions Trophy and the success against Estudiantes, in the Argentine Super Cup, two badges that are not enough to shield the adventure. And on Wednesday, in Paraguay, against Libertad, the driver will have to demonstrate the ability to react so that the defeat does not modify the road map in the Copa Libertadores, the competition that in 2023 polished his figure and even began a relationship with tension . The criticism of the approaches to the games, the choice of pieces, the modifications and some disagreements that arose with chiefs like Enzo Pérez did little to help in building a connection with outsiders.
The choice of Colidio to compose the attacking formula with Miguel Borja and relegate Pablo Solari to the substitutes’ bench and the modification of Claudio Echeverri, in the second half, two situations that the coach argued: “Echeverri had a fever until last night, it had been like this for two days. He raised his hand to be a starter and that’s why he was there from the start. With the changes, with Esequiel Barco and Manuel Lanzini, we tried for more rhythm, like with Instituto. We went looking for him, but we ran out of time.”he explained about the substitutions. The preparation of the offense was due to the moment of one and the history of the other: “The system that is working the most for us is with two forwards: Borja [se repuso de una lesión en el isquiotibial izquierdo] He is our scorer and Facundo had just scored three goals.”
He arrived wrapped in a positive aura against Boca and even with the push of being the best team in the area, he left surrounded by old questions and knowing that in three days he will have the challenge of jumping the fence to shape the projection of the team. Copa Libertadores, the trophy that delights the fans and that left a thorn in Demichelis.