Although River Plated got knocked out yesterday against Palmeiras, the team were one goal away from ET. In fact, they scored a third goal but got ruled away by VAR (wrongly disallowed, in my opinion, the player in an offside position doesn't touch the ball).
After that goal ruled out, River lost intensity. And that starts a debate of what could have been. And well, Rojas got sent off later on the match. They lost the composure.
But we're not here for a debate of VAR or a debate about ref mistakes affecting the match, though.
Regardless of what happened yesterday, he was one close to reaching his third Copa Libertadores final in a row. And let's be honest, Palmeiras didn't has their best match yesterday. I think if River kept the intensity after the goal ruled out they would have made the comeback.
His record in Copa Libertadores is amazing. He only didn't reach a semi in 2016 where they got knocked out by the runners-up Independiente del Valle.
He won two titles (2015, 2018), reached two semis (2017, 2020), were runners up (2019) and got knocked out in RO16 once (2016). All of this having key departures every transfer window.
For comparisons, 2018 Libertadores winning squad only had four players of the 2015 Libertadores winning squad.
And yesterday squad only had ten of those members of 2018 squad.
Gallardo despite of have to build a squad practically every season, has made a team that wins titles almost every year. His record isn't only amazing in Copa Libertadores. He won at least one in every season he managed, bar the last. First year, he won Copa Sudamericana. In his second, he won Copa Libertadores, Recopa Sudamericana and Suruga Bank. In the third, he won Argentinean cup. In the fourth, another Copa Libertadores and Argentinean supercup. Finally, in his fifth year he won Argentinean cup and Recopa Sudamericana, again.
In the last season, his sixth year managing River Plate was his first year in blank. And sure, the only competition they finished was Argentinean First Division, where they lost the league by 1 point after tying their last two matches. But the official competitions for Argentinean Cup and Copa Libertadores will end this January. Nevertheless, River finished 2nd in his group for the cup and got knocked out in semis. So in theory, he didn't win any title in 2020 competitions.
He hasn't done that well in the Argentinean league though, and it's the only title he hasn't won as River Plate manager.
He has finished second thrice (2014, 2017, 2020), ninth twice (2015, 2016), eighth once (2018) and four once (2019).
This could be a factor of why he isn't considered one of the best right now. He still has this debt with the River Plate fanbase. Anyways, he is the leader of one of the most successful eras in Los Millonarios story.
And what do you think? Let me know in the comments what do you think about Gallardo and his work at River Plate!
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