River
returned from Tucumán with a draw.
He took a point but the feeling is that the return to Núñez was empty-handed
.
There was a setback in the game that the team had been showing.
And, to complete the negative scenario,
an unwanted incident broke out
that could mark a turning point in Martín Demichelis's relationship with the squad that he himself designed after the departures of Enzo Pérez, Nicolás De la Cruz, Bruno Zuculini and Salomón Rondón among them. other heavyweights.
The thing is that the penalty missed twice by
Esequiel Barco
in the first half of the game stole all the flashes and even more so after the coach decided to sit him on the bench at half-time.
This situation sparked endless rumors and even a clarification from Evangelina Anderson, the coach's partner, who continues to suffer the burden of being Marcelo Gallardo's heir.
Better to go in parts.
First we have to review what happened that heavy night at the José Fierro Monumental in San Miguel de Tucumán.
Néstor Breitenbruch, Decano's defender, brought down Ignacio Fernández inside the area and referee Nazareno Arasa scored the penalty 27 minutes into the first half.
Immediately afterwards, Barco put a ball under his arm and Borja another.
They both wanted to kick him.
There was a fight to see who carried out the infraction.
The midfielder won and the Colombian, very angry, threw the ball into the stands.
The former Independiente's shot went to the middle and José Devecchi saved it with his right leg.
But the VAR observed Alexis Flores' zone invasion and the penalty was taken again.
There the challenge to authority occurred because Demichelis, energetic, ordered Barco to give his place to Borja.
Nacho Fernández went to persuade him, but he couldn't do it.
The Colombian attacker, now calmer, slapped the creative midfielder on the face as a sign of support.
But fate had a bad trick in store for him.
The shot - he hit it with one leg and then touched it with the other - went several meters over the crossbar and the coach was ejected from the substitute bench chewing up something more than anger.
In fact, Germán Lux, one of Micho's assistants, ordered the physical trainer to intensify the pre-competition work of Franco Mastantuono, who entered in the second half in place of the rebellious midfielder.
THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE TWO MISSED PENALTIES BY BARCO: Esequiel and Borja went to look for the ball, Demichelis gave the order for Turri to kick and Hummingbird reluctantly accepted.
For the second execution, Micho asks that they change the performer and on the 21st he did not obey.
📺 #ESPNenStarPlus pic.twitter.com/UaTHtwi4G0
— SportsCenter (@SC_ESPN) February 15, 2024
It was 45 minutes of pure tension.
And there was even talk that Demichelis and Barco came to blows in the locker room before the game restarted.
At the press conference, the coach tried to lower the volume on the affair.
“Missing a penalty or even two can happen to anyone, I considered that he was not one hundred percent emotionally at halftime for him to continue playing in the second.
He is a great boy, sometimes it is the emotions of the players due to the pulses, we have been winning, I wanted to participate because he had not yet converted this season,” the coach started to appease the controversy.
And he continued: "He apologized to me because he is not egocentric and he is not a boy who thinks only of himself, in this case he did not want to give up the ball but you learn from everything and today he will surely have a great experience."
Demichelis's words were not enough for the foam to finish going down.
Sensational journalists stirred up rumors of a heated fight in the dressing rooms, including physical violence.
And they even pointed out a mark on Demichelis' face as evidence of the alleged fight that did not exist.
The coach, consulted at the press conference, explained the scratch he had on his face was the product of “a fungus.”
"IT'S A FUNGUS"
Martín Demichelis clarified that he already had the mark on his face after rumors about a fight with Barco.
pic.twitter.com/EUCGpwLmux
— TyC Sports (@TyCSports) February 15, 2024
The fake news grew so much that
Evangelina Anderson
felt the obligation to show the dialogue she had with a dermatologist to treat her husband's problem.
“Demi's cheek has been like this for months, here's my chat on October 2 with my dermatologist... Haha.
"How they love to invent," said the model along with a photo of a conversation with a doctor, who recommended using a cream to treat
"seborrheic dermatitis"
as a result of "stress."
Evangelina Anderson's chat with the dermatologist about Martín Demichelis' condition.
Photo: Instagram
What really happened in the José Fierro locker room?
There was, according to him, a strong verbal reprimand from Demichelis for not having obeyed his order.
Nothing else.
Nothing less too.... And that's where the cracks that don't finish appearing in his way of leading groups appear.
The different points of view that favored the departure of the previous leaders of the locker room reappeared from this rebellion of Barco, who found an echo in his behavior in an old glory like Ariel Ortega, who on his social networks shared a photo of the player who emerged in Independiente with the phrase “Aguante potrero, rebellion, gambetas.”
Ariel Ortega's post to bench Esequiel Barco.
Photo: Instagram
Right or not, Demichelis gave a sign of authority by taking out Barco.
Criticism, internal and external, may help the coach continue passing subjects in his career to add experience.
He has the leadership bench.
He needs time to finish molding his style.
We must not forget that this is his first adventure as a driver and that, to make matters worse, he has the heavy burden of being Gallardo's heir.