It was as if he had never been away. As Marcelo Gallardo returned to a packed Monumental for his second stint in charge of River Plate, the stands burst out in unison to greet their hero, to a rousing cheer of ‘Muñeeeeeeco, Muñeeeeco’ that bellowed out into the Buenos Aires night.
Over the following two hours, however, Gallardo received a rude reminder that idol status by no means constitutes a magic recipe for success.
When wonderkid Claudio Echeverri – who was just eight years old when the coach first took the reins of River back in 2014 – opened the scoring against Huracán with just 13 minutes on the clock, a raucous homecoming appeared to be on the cards. But there is a reason that the Globo are fighting for the Liga Profesional de Fútbol title, and they equalised just before half-time through Rodrigo Echeverría and battened down the hatches for the second period to secure a point that rained on Gallardo’s welcome parade.
“The team has been used to playing in a different way,” the new man in charge told reporters after the game, a comment which can be interpreted both as a dig at his predecessor, Martín Demichelis – who has already landed back on the bench with Mexico’s Monterrey – and a recognition of the task ahead. “You don’t have time to work, we don’t have much margin to play with. But I have faith and we’ll pull through on that.”
Time is certainly of the essence: just four days after debut, and exactly nine after his emotional presentation, Gallardo and River were taking on Talleres in the Copa Libertadores, the one competition that means more than any other and which, on the back of victories in 2015 and 2018, forged El Muñeco’s unshakeable position as the king of Núñez.
In the Copa, it looks like the old magic might still be there, even if the team is not yet. Even playing with a man down for most of the second half Talleres were more than a match for the Millo, and were unlucky to see a second-half header ruled out for a tight offside, only for Paulo Díaz to hit at the other end and give River a vital away win.
Prior to the goal, the game itself was a similar story to what River have suffered through all year: comfortable, indeed dominant control of possession but a lack of bite in the final third, while remaining vulnerable to rapid incursions on the break or at dead-ball situations.
All of that should of course come as no surprise. River are already showing signs of switching from the patient, thoughtful, at times ponderous football which characterised them under Demichelis to Gallardo’s patented break-neck style, but it will take time for heads and legs to start responding to this increase in velocity. Just how the languid yet deadly Miguel Borja fits in once back from injury is one more conundrum for Gallardo to square as he looks to mould another great team in his own image. But as the old adage goes, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than great, and that held in Wednesday’s dramatic victory: El Muñeco is back at River for one purpose and one purpose only, the delivery of further Libertadores triumphs, and by that yardstick his return is off to a dream start.
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