He had been waiting for this
Superclásico
since he arrived at
Boca
's youth team .
The first time he appeared in La Candela was in 2011, with Coqui Raffo, and until 2015 he took charge of the kids' training.
Among them, two of the boys who were important in this duel against River: Ezequiel Fernández and Cristian Medina.
Yes,
Diego Martínez dreamed of being the coach of the blue and gold Primera and he fulfilled it.
The 45-year-old coach emerged victorious because the result, in the end, was a draw that his team sought and achieved, leaving a better image in the second half.
However, his decisions will have to be reviewed when reading the game and reaching into the bench.
The changes he made caught attention.
The first variant was the departure of
Jabes Saralegui
, 20 years old, who had been one of the best footballers and had the most consistent performance throughout the match.
The kid had shown himself daring and had prevailed in the one-on-one match with a great personality.
At 21 minutes into the second half, Martínez decided to replace him with
Lucas Blondel
in search of greater depth and brought up
Luis Advíncula
.
At that same moment,
Edinson Cavani , of a very poor level, left the field and
Luca Langoni
entered
.
The goal came five minutes later, but it was not due to the variations but to a good collective play that was created on the left with Lautaro Blanco and ended with Medina resolving, precisely,
the following change that was difficult to understand
because the 21-year-old youth He was the best on the field.
Nicolás Valentini entered his place to form a line of five with the idea of closing the match.
The additions of
Frank Fabra
and
Darío Benedetto
two minutes into the epilogue gave the sensation of being a tribute to the sacred cows that run from behind.
Kevin Zenón and Miguel Merentiel came out, both in discolored matches.
Neither the Colombian nor the Pipa had time to produce any serious play.
Beyond River's dominance in that furious start, the initial formation that Martínez planted at the Monumental was not poorly thought out.
And if he had tried two midfielders during the week, he took a gamble on fresh guys.
At the press conference, the coach analyzed the match: “River had a very clear attitude at the start with Facu Colidio and Solari, to look for the backs of the centre-backs with aerial deliveries, or to stretch out and allow Echeverri to receive, closing Barco, But that search was not so fluid, yes the pressure made us play very low, they did throw a couple of centers at us on a stopped ball, in a short, which they did not manage to achieve with Herrera.
Until we began to be able to impose ourselves or discuss possession, and there was a back-and-forth game, a game of rapid transit in the middle of the field, of combined and fast attacks.”
Martínez agreed.
“In the balance of the ninety minutes, beyond the fact that what we did as a team is very valuable, which was to come here to win the game with our weapons and our ideas, it seems to me that it ended up being an even game.
We could have won it, and so could River,” he pointed out.
And one of the most praised was Saralegui
: “I am very happy with him.
He is very serious and professional.
You talk to him, he looks at your face and he always listens to you.
I like him a lot because he participates, he has unchecking, deployment.
Today he had good participations.”