Argentine River Plate coach Marcelo Gallardo announced during a press conference at the club’s headquarters in Buenos Aires that he is leaving the team at the end of his contract.
«I informed the leaders that it is my end of contract. I will not continue in the club. It is a very difficult decision », he told the media at a conference in which he was visibly moved.
“Beyond the sadness, I have an internal peace that makes me feel good about myself because the road traveled, the long road traveled in all these years, makes me feel very proud,” said the most successful coach in the club’s history, with 14 titles in eight and a half years.
The former midfielder was accompanied by the president of the club, Jorge Britto, and the sports director, the Uruguayan Enzo Francescoli, glory of the Millionaire. The strategist said that he communicated his determination to Britto and Francescoli on Wednesday night. “It is time to close a beautiful and very valuable cycle. It is very possible that on Sunday I will have my last game at the Monumental. I just wanted to say thank you », he said in reference to the match that River Plate will play against Rosario Central, on the penultimate day of the local tournament.
Gallardo said that “it is one of the most difficult and heartfelt decisions” and that, despite the fact that the announcement was going to be “a delicate moment”, he did not want to stop appearing “to thank the people who trusted” him. The former coach of the Uruguayan National dedicated words of praise to the directors, who let him work with “total freedom.”
«Over eight and a half years, a lot of people accompanied me in this process. I want to thank my coaching staff, the people who worked with me and who kept me strong to continue,” he said. His thanks were extended to players, fans, journalists and “everyone” who accompanied them.
Gallardo’s last meeting at the helm of River Plate, at least in the official competition, will be next week, when he visits Racing in the tournament that has Boca Juniors as the leader and in which both still have their chances of fighting for the title.
“El Muñeco” debuted as a coach in 2011 at Nacional, where he had hung up his boots a year earlier, and became champion of the Uruguayan League in 2012. In 2014 he arrived at River Plate, the club he loved, and became the winningest coach in the history of the club.
With Gallardo on the bench, River won the 2014 Copa Sudamericana, the 2015, 2016 and 2019 Recopa Sudamericana, the 2015 and 2018 Copa Libertadores, the 2015 Suruga Bank Cup, the 2016, 2017 and 2019 Copa Argentina, the 2017 and 2019 Argentine Super Cup, the 2021 Professional League and the 2021 Champions Trophy. EFE
