Maximiliano Benozzi
03/09/2020 - 16:51
- Clarín.com
- sports
"You have to live with defeat ." Those words of Marcelo Gallardo in the press conference after the tie - with the taste of defeat - against Atlético Tucumán are part of the message that the coach drops to his squad. Especially in this hard moment in which he lost a championship on the last date and that, above, was in the hands of his eternal rival.
Anyway, there was no specific or specific talk. From the moment the players entered the locker room, the majority were silent. There were only a few words of encouragement. Although not so many because there were not many forces. The illusion to get the Super League was great, it was within reach and escaped at the end. So, the hit is harder. And even more after having had another similar blow less than four months ago when he fell with Flamengo in Lima and could not conquer America again, in November last year.
The force of the impact is even greater if one thinks that this campus of River is not accustomed to these falls. Most of these players were part of the most important conquest in the history of the club: having won the final of the Copa Libertadores in Boca, of which 15 months were fulfilled on Monday.
True to Gallardo's style, they did not lie on the laurels and went for more. And River was competitive until the end in all subsequent tournaments. He won two new trophies, the South American Cup Winners Cup and the Argentine Cup, and stayed on the shore in the Libertadores and the Super League. Then, the pain of a team accustomed to overcoming in decisive instances aggrantates the crater. And with that you should also know how to live.
This is what the Doll points out to be able to raise a squad that mumbles a lot from Saturday to midnight when he left in the Indian line of José Fierro de Tucumán. There were -logically- several long faces and some with glassy eyes like Gonzalo Montiel and Lucas Martínez Quarta.
On the charter back to Buenos Aires the scene did not change and once they arrived at the Monumental, the players grabbed their cars and headed home. They were released until Monday morning when they resumed work on the Ezeiza site. There were physical tasks in the gym and regenerative and aerobic capacity exercises.
As Clarín could find out, there were no reproaches. The message was to focus on the work because around the corner is the meeting before Binational (Wednesday at 19.15), key to the team's aspirations in the group phase of the Copa Libertadores.
There is no time to stop. Nor for ear pulls. They are hours of inner encouragement and looking for new motivations. In this context, the fight for not winning the Super League will have to be diluted with the passing of the competition. Because if River stays with the head in Tucumán it will be complicated. Looking forward is another of the Doll's commandments .
"The Copa Libertadores will be difficult for us," Gallardo admitted. Is that River already had a setback in Quito, where he had to travel with substitutes and youth by the definition of the Super League and fell 3-0. Then, it begins to be urged of results. And getting them from here on will be vital to help therapy overcome Tucumán's bad trance.