Comparisons are hateful but inevitable, and they will appear at every turn.
Martín Demichelis
knows
it, who will have an elite squad in
River
but has an extra rival that the other 27 teams that play in the Professional League should not face: the mirror of
Marcelo Gallardo
.
Being the successor to the Doll is a heavy burden, as was continuing the legacy of Carlos Bianchi in Boca or imagining another DT on the National Team bench other than Lionel Scaloni, to name just two examples.
What few imagined is that the bucket of reality would fall so quickly on Núñez, when two official matches of the cycle that the former Bayern Munich began.
After the tour of the United States with a perfect balance of three wins and zero goals against, the debut against Central Córdoba in Santiago del Estero continued the upward trend.
Until Belgrano arrived, a recently promoted rival but who was effective and took advantage of
the two opportunities that the Millo defense gave him
.
Yes, what DT had worried about working the most since he took office.
River took a defeat from Córdoba too early in the 2023 League. Photo: Juan José García.
If the comparisons are odious, the statistics are even more so.
If Demichelis fell in his second official game as River manager, Gallardo accumulated a total of 23 games until he took his first setback.
Demolition Man.
El Muñeco made his debut as Millo's coach on June 6, 2014, replacing another heavyweight,
Ramón Díaz
, who had just been champion and had gone eight games without losing.
Gallardo maintained his unbeaten streak until November of that year, adding 14 First Division games, 3 in the Copa Argentina (he was eliminated on penalties after a 0-0 draw with Rosario Central) and 6 in the Copa Sudamericana.
It was
Estudiantes de La Plata
that put an end to the promising start of that Gallardo River: on November 12, 2014 they beat them 1-0 in Núñez with a goal from Uruguayan
Diego Vera
.
a wink of fate
In moments of defeat you have to
cling to what you know
to leave a loophole for the illusion.
And in River's defeat against Belgrano there was a particularity that will make the most cabuleros fans smile.
The culprit,
Pablo Vegetti
.
The data was provided by the TV broadcast during the match and confirmed by the protagonist himself.
The center forward was not only the author of the first goal against the Demichelis cycle: he was also responsible for the first goal suffered by Gallardo's, eight and a half years ago.
At that time, with the
Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata
shirt , Vegetti tied a crazy match at the Estadio Único de La Plata because until 90 minutes it was tied 0-0.
In '91 the Colombian Teófilo Gutiérrez scored and in '100 (they had added 12) came the cry of today's idol of the Pirate.
"Yes, it's true... Well, I brought them luck, I hope Demichelis too... for them," Vegetti said between laughs when the coincidence was mentioned to him.
look too
Belgrano was pure efficiency and smiled again before River by the hand of Farré and thanks to the scorer Vegetti
