It was an open secret, but it is no less surprising for that: with 6 days to go before the start of the World Cup in Qatar 2022, It was confirmed that Martín Demichelis will be the new coach of River Plate in his first great challenge as a coach.
Demichelis arrives to replace none other than Marcelo Gallardo, the most successful coach in ‘millionaire’ history, who this Sunday said goodbye to the bench with a 4-0 win against Betis in Mendoza (western Argentina).
This was confirmed this Monday in a statement by Bayern Munich, where he was serving as coach of the second team.
“Martín has received an offer to become coach of one of the most important clubs in South America. We did not want to deny you this great opportunity and we have agreed to his request to terminate his contract,” said Bayern’s sports director, Hasan Salihamidzic, in statements collected by the Bavarian club.
Your experience as a technician
Demichelis’s first experience on the bench was in the 2017-2018 season, when he took over as Málaga’s assistant coach.
After working as an assistant to Míchel and José González for one season, the former defender took a year off and headed to Munich to start his career as head coach of Bayern U19 in 2019.
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Demichelis remained in that position until April 3, 2021, when he took the reins of the Bavarian team’s subsidiary, in which he has played 58 games with a balance of 35 wins, 13 draws and 10 losses.
Bayern II, which plays in one of the five leagues corresponding to the German fourth divisioncurrently ranked 5th in the local tournament with 32 points, far behind the leader, Underhaching, who leads the championship with 51 points after 21 days.
Demichelis’ last game as reserve team coach, played last Friday, ended in a 4-1 win against SpVgg Ansbach.
“The last few minutes were very emotional for me. It’s difficult, after all these years, to contain the emotions in the last game,” Demichelis said in his first words as former coach of the German club, in which he spent, in his words, ” exceptional time.”
Return to River Plate
“Bayern brought me from River Plate as a young player and now I’m coming back from FCB as a young coach”Demichelis summarized about one of those twists of fate that football sometimes offers: assuming the technical direction of the team that saw you born as a footballer.
And it is that Demichelis began his long career as a professional player precisely in the Millionaire, in which he played 70 games between 2001 and 2003, in the company of “historical” such as Andrés D’Alessandro, Víctor Zapata or Maxi López.
His good performance as a central defender did not go unnoticed by Bayern Munich, who signed him for a figure close to 5 million dollars.
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There he spent his best years as a footballer, winning four league titles (2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009), among other local championships, until his final departure in 2010, the year in which he joined the ranks of Manuel Pellegrini’s Málaga, who already he had been his coach at River Plate.
After three seasons, in which he reached the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League (2013), Demichelis headed for Manchester City, again with the Chilean as coach, and with whom he won the League title in 2014 .
Relegated to a secondary role in the English club, Demichelis returned to the Spanish League in the 2016-2017 campaign to play for Espanyol de Barcelona and again for Málaga.
At the end of that season, Demichelis announced his retirement from professional football after a formidable career, with 550 appearances and 32 goals to his credit.
An experience in the club to which he adds his career in the ranks of the national team, with which he played two World Cups (Germany 2006 and South Africa 2010) and one Copa América (Chile 2015).
Undoubtedly, Demichelis’s main challenge as River coach will be to turn the page on the “Gallardo era”, the most successful in the club’s history.
With the ‘Doll’ on the bench, River won the 2014 South American Cup, the 2015, 2016 and 2019 Recopa Sudamericana, the 2015 and 2018 Libertadores Cup, the 2015 Suruga Bank Cup, the 2016, 2017 and 2019 Argentine Cup, the 2017 and 2019 Argentine Super Cup, the Professional League of 2021 and the Champions Trophy of 2021.
