River Plate faithful on cloud nine as 'El Muñeco' Gallardo continues to torture Boca

There is only one thing sweeter for a diehard football fan than a big win, and that's two big wins, and if one comes at the expense of their fiercest rival even better. The River Plate faithful certainly feel on cloud nine right now, as they celebrate not only another appearance in a Copa Libertadores semi-final but also the chaos that has engulfed Boca Juniors, and which is at least partially of the Millonarios' making.

River's perfect week kicked off in an unusual setting. Saturday afternoon is not exactly a traditional Superclásico day, but the visitors' Copa commitments required the showpiece clash at La Bombonera be dragged 24 hours ahead from its habitual slot in the fixture schedule. Fortunately for Marcelo Gallardo, some things do not change, like El Muñeco's penchant for torturing Boca while sitting on the Millo bench.

Gallardo raised temperatures on an already balmy first day of spring by holding his nose while walking onto the Bombonera turf, an act which predictably provoked the wrath of the home support. By the end of 90 minutes, however, those same fans were turning on their own players, seething over a 1-0 victory which could have been even more comfortable for River and frustrated even more by a late disallowed goal which would have rescued a point. Goalkeeper Sergio Romero bore the brunt of criticisms and hurled himself into the stands to give a personalised response to his detractors, contributing to a messy, heated finale that additionally saw centre-back Cristian Lema see red for clashing with the referee.

Three days later Facundo Colidio's solitary strike saw River safely past Colo Colo and into the Libertadores last-four, Gallardo's sixth appearance in the stage since taking over at the Monumental for his first spell back in 2014 – a feat not even the great Carlos Bianchi, a four-time winner of the competition with Vélez and Boca, achieved. After a slow start to his return and growing pains as River readjusted to the Muñeco way of playing, the Millo are now on a roll with four straight wins in all competitions, vindicating what was a somewhat risky decision on the part of both club and coach to retread familiar ground and stake Gallardo's legacy to a second stint.

While River bask in football heaven, La Boca is a raging inferno. The Xeneize's interest in the Copa Sudamericana was extinguished in the quarters by Cruzeiro and with this, their second clásico loss in the space of a week after going down to Racing, the club's chances in the Liga Profesional de Fútbol are also moribund. Only the Copa Argentina remains to salvage something from another muted year and give Boca that much-desired passage back into the Libertadores in 2025 – the bare minimum expected of any season.

Gallardo's latest Superclásico victim is also teetering. Diego Martínez appeared to be the man to finally give Juan Román Riquelme a Boca team worthy of the name, but nine months into his tenure the ex-Tigre and Huracán boss is floundering much like his predecessors; overseeing a side without any set identity or playing ideas, whose tepid performances do not match up with the names on the back of their shirt or financial outlay needed to bring them to La Bombonera. 

He has not yet suffered the fate of Sebastián Battaglia, infamously summoned to a late-night summit at a YPF petrol station and shown the door, but another slip on Saturday away to Belgrano would almost certainly spell the end and make him the sixth coaching casualty of Riquelme's five-year tenure as vice-president and president. That would take Boca back to square one once more, while their executioner-in-chief continues to work miracles and cement his deity-like status with the red-and-white half of Argentine football's biggest, most bitter rivalry.