Martín Demichelis and the return of Passarella to the Monumental: “The protagonists are the players”

The return of Daniel Walkway to the Monumental After nine years, these hours have become as important or more important a topic of conversation than the party the team led Martin Demichelis will play that day at 19:15 against Argentinos Juniors for the third round of the Professional soccer league. The Dt was not excluded from this debate, questioned about it during this Friday’s press conference, but who elegantly avoided any direct reference to the former player, former coach and former president.

It seems to me that I have to concentrate 100% on everything that is my responsibility: preparing the match in the best way and concentrating 100% on that so that the team plays well from minute 1 to minute 93. The most important protagonists on Sunday will be the players, neither me nor anyone else. I hope that on Sunday the whole River Plate world enjoys Monumental, the team, and that we give them a victory by playing well” Demichelis said when asked about the presence of the Kaiser.

These words of protocol from Demichelis were much warmer than those she had intended for him in May 2017. After announcing his retirement, Demichelis said he tried to return to River in mid-2013, after parting ways with Málaga, and revealed that it had been walkway, then president of the club, who had frustrated the operation. “I had a meeting with (Vice President) Diego Turnes, who was set up and got along well with me. Later the president appeared and made some points of the contract difficult. It made the possibility difficult and could not be realized”, he explained at the time.

Passarella was invited by the management led by George Brito to a tribute that the club will pay to the players who have won a world title with the Argentine national team and who have worn the red band shirt. The captain of the national team who lifted the trophy at the 1978 World Cup accepted the invitation, as confirmed by the Public Relations department of the institution, which handles the organization of the event.

This visit will score the return to the Monumental of the ex central defender, who as a footballer had two cycles at River (between 1972 and 1982, and between 1988 and 1989) and also led the team from the end of 1989 (just five months after his retirement) and since 1994. His experience as president of the institution between 2009 and 2013 was the least bright and was marked by relegation to Prima Nazionale B in June 2011. In December 2013, after the election won by Rodolfo D’Onofrio , did not attend the inauguration ceremony of his successor.

“Sunday will be a very special day, with a renewed Monumental. It is a blessing that the club continues to grow. It will be sold out and there will be 83,000 people supporting the players,” the manager pointed out, although he clarified that the party will be quite alien to him:”The team and the situation require me to be 100% focused on developing the game. I will miss many landscapes. All my life I’ve loved watching the stands, but I’m going to miss it this time. I’ll look like little or nothing.”