Maximiliano benozzi
08/20/2021 8:00
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 08/20/2021 8:00 AM
The elimination of River with Atlético Mineiro in the Copa Libertadores left several questions in Núñez, but none as relevant as what will happen to Marcelo Gallardo,
whose contract with the institution expires on December 31.
Will you be looking for new challenges or will it end the most successful cycle in club history?
For Gallardo, the semester is not over, even though his team has been left out of the great goal that is always the Libertadores.
After digesting the painful defeat in Belo Horizonte,
the coach will put his head in the local tournament
, the only competition he has left to play until December.
There are plenty of reasons to aim all cannons at the domestic contest.
One of them is that the Doll will seek to remove his thorn with the Argentine championship, which he still could not win since he is River technician.
He was close three times (in 2014, 2017 and 2020) but he got away in the end.
And now it will seek to pay off that debt.
To do this, he will first have to re-stimulate his players, beaten after the defeat by Atlético Mineiro.
River players after the defeat against Atlético Mineiro.
EFE / Bruna Prado
The other big reason is that
River is not classified for the Copa Libertadores next year
.
Not entering the maximum international competition would not only be a sporting impact, but also an economic one.
In the 2021/2022 budget, it is contemplated to reach the final instances of the next Libertadores.
River could enter by general table (today it is in the South American Cup zone) but what better way to do it than by winning a championship.
And then?
Marcelo Gallardo after River's defeat in Belo Horizonte.
EFE / Bruna Prado
It is still premature to talk about the
Doll's
decision
.
So far, it will all be speculation.
"This time his balance will be deeper than other times," a source close to the coach told
Clarín
.
What emerges is that this time Gallardo's analysis will be deeper.
He will have to evaluate how River's football project will continue, of which he is the commander, from the First to the Infantile,
and if he will be able to count on a competitive team
, among other essential day-to-day issues.
Rodolfo D'Onofrio will leave the presidency.
But the next leadership is already thinking about the future.
And in October they will put a new contract on the table for Gallardo.
With Jorge Brito and Matías Patanian at the helm, if they win the elections (the polls give them as winners with a wide margin),
there will be a continuity of the current ruling party
.
Rodolfo D'Onofrio will cease to be River's president in December.
It is not less than Patanian (he will be in charge of the football area) and Andrés Ballotta (he was treasurer in D'Onofrio's first administration and would return to that place) are once again part of the leadership.
The
Doll
esteems them very much.
Nobody is yet encouraged to give a prediction about what Gallardo will answer.
One of the things to talk about is the financial aspect.
"We have no choice but to make an adjustment to accommodate the numbers,"
a leader who will remain within the structure acknowledged to this newspaper.
So, it will be necessary to see if Gallardo is willing to accept that new reality and also how the leaders seduce him to continue.
The coach knows, anyway, what the situation is like.
He is aware of everything.
And in case he decides to stay, what he will ask, as he stated at the beginning of the year, is that they are all aligned.
But that is missing.
Now, the head of Gallardo will be in the domestic contest.
For the first time in seven years, his River will play almost the entire local championship exclusively (19 out of 25 dates remain, or three quarters of the tournament).
Until now it had overlap with other competitions and when choosing, it pointed to the other.
"You have to think about the local tournament, clean up this elimination from the Cup quickly and change the chip to see if this semester we have the chance to fight it to the end," said Gallardo in the press conference after the defeat with Atlético Mineiro .
Even in the most difficult moments, the Doll thinks about what is coming.