Once the match was over, River’s technical director, Martín Demichelis, analyzed what happened on the playing field. “I think we had a good first half, where even Zenón’s free kick didn’t matter. We had possession. The games, especially the Superclásicos, are lived with a lot of emotions, for better or worse. They found the goal, which makes them better emotionally in the second half. We made the prepared play that almost gave us the advantage. It didn’t end up being a goal. They came out mentally strengthened once more, and from a play that we mightn’t reject they gave us the second. “We kept going forward, but it wasn’t enough for us,” the coach explained.
After Yael Falcón Pérez’s final whistle, the driver went to the judge’s locker room accompanied by the team’s bodyguard. When asked regarding that dialogue, the strategist stated: “I never spoke regarding the referees. I went to apologize. I went to apologize in case any of the boys said something to him. Nothing more than that.”
During the talk with the media, Demichelis preferred to avoid controversy when asked whether the ball entered in its entirety in the play that might have led to his team’s second goal. “I don’t know, I didn’t even see it,” was the brief response he outlined.
“We were having a good first half, our way of playing flowed. We found the wheels. We had no major worries. But in one Advíncula overwhelmed us and we mightn’t defend ourselves. When you go to the locker room following having a good first half, what I was worried that the players would not lose their emotional state. We scored another goal, which later was worthless,” he remarked.
When explaining the formation of the midfield, the technical director revealed the reasons that led him to take off Echeverri, the author of the assist on the first goal of the game. “Echeverri had a fever during the night, but he raised his hand and said he was fine; otherwise he wouldn’t play. ‘Nacho’ (Fernández) was on yellow. With the entry of Lanzini and Barco the idea was to grab the ball more and try to break , like they did with Instituto. They just hit us there. Then the rival retreated and it became more difficult.” In addition, he commented that he did not lean towards Franco Mastantuono because they do not consider him as a “backward steering wheel.”
This was River’s first defeat in a Superclásico with Martín Demichelis sitting on the substitute bench, since he had won the first two and tied the last. Before this commitment, the former defender was undefeated once morest the greats. Demichelis had a record of five wins and three draws, once morest the most important clubs in the country.
“The system that is making us work the most is with two forwards. I decided on Borja because he is our scorer, and Colidio had just scored three goals,” concluded the coach, commenting on the reasons why Pablo Solari was not in the game. on the offensive.
With this result, River was out of the race in the League Cup, and now everything will point to the Copa Libertadores. The leader of Group H with an ideal score following two presentations, will travel to Paraguay to face Libertad on Wednesday. Then, on Tuesday, May 7, he will go to Montevideo to face Nacional. The team will close its participation with two matches at the Monumental: Tuesday, May 14, it will host Libertad, and on Thursday, May 30, it will play once morest Deportivo Táchira.
