Marcelo Gallardo He gave a realistic speech after his first victory in the second cycle as coach of River. “I am not a magician,” he said. And he is right. He did not manage to achieve a complete transformation in a handful of days of work. It is logical. And it was noticeable in Córdoba, in front of Workshops. His team was unable to exert superiority even in the final half hour, when they were left with one more man.
Thus, with numerical superiority, in those 30 final minutes, River did not create any goal-scoring chances for Talleres. The goal came in a set play that also included a bit of luck, because Paulo Díaz, when connecting with the cross, not only hit the ball with his head, but also with his shoulder. And the ball went in anyway. It was the 1-0 goal, the victory.
“I can’t expect the team to function the way I want it to. It’s the first week of work. I’m not a magician. I’m a person who has an idea and tries to give a guideline for the players to understand,” said Muñeco.
For some reason Gallardo only praised “the team spirit” and remarked: “We lacked more flow in the game, but we showed an important team character.” It cost River a lot to elaborate and change the rhythm from midfield up. The precocious talents, Claudio Echeverri and Franco Mastantuono, were unable to influence, to such an extent that in the 56th minute Muñeco took them off to put in the experienced Nacho Fernández and Manuel Lanzini.
Claudio Echeverri tries to dribble past Franco Moncayo (Talleres)
Talleres suffered a lot of losses when Lucas Suárez was unnecessarily sent off for scoring from behind against Adam Bareiro, who had his back turned and was almost 50 metres from the goal. A piece of nonsense that River could not take advantage of.
For now, unlike Martín Demichelis’ team, this River gives a feeling of greater defensive solidity. Nor did Talleres worry him too much. Here the explanation is simple. Gallardo had the advantage that German Pezzella (ex Betis) accepted his offer to return. In this way, Pezzella forms a more than interesting central duo with Paulo Díaz.
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While waiting for Miguel Borja to recover, Muñeco opted to play with only one real striker (Adam Bareiro), who he was unable to feed due to what was already said about Echeverri and Mastantuono. Santiago Simón did not weigh in either. While Matías Kranevitter and Rodrigo Aliendro had balance as their priority. In addition, Fabricio Bustos, another of the new signings, made his debut. Franco Armani hesitated with some crosses and the defense hesitated with a couple of crosses.
The victory is still very valuable for River. It allows them to take an important first step in this round of 16 series. Now they will have to crown it in the rematch on Wednesday, at the Monumental.
