River: González Pirez and Beltrán, the players who changed Demichelis’ way of thinking

A popular wisdom indicates this “Pingos are seen on the pitch”. And the river coach, Martin Demichelis, He can attest that the saying is absolutely valid because some beliefs he had in the previous one, before the start of the season, were reversed. We talk about the current Lucas Beltrán and Leandro González Pirez, two players who started from behind in pre-season and who are now the undisputed starters.

The stories of Beltrán and González Pirez are peculiar because they were the last options for Demichelis in their positions. Even from the coaching staff they thought about giving up the central defender, although later they were oriented towards the loan of the young Felipe Peña to Arsenal. For the coach, Paulo Díaz and Emanuel Mammana were the starters, while Jonatan Maidana and David Martínez were the substitutes, with Robert Rojas as a possible alternate in an emergency. While left-footed Martínez was dragging on an injury from last year, Enzo Díaz was brought in, a full-back who can play as a defender.

This was the photo in January for the 31-year-old defender. But the injuries continued and the Chileans Díaz, Martínez and Mammana fell. Maidana did not give up and Enzo Díaz found it difficult to break in as a central goalscorer. González Pirez only had to play in the fourth round against Tigre (he scored the only winning goal) and has since only missed the duel against Banfield for the Champions Trophy. tomorrow, the stubborn (who also scored against Racing de Córdoba) will partner Paulo Díaz in the Junín against Sarmiento. “Every time I have to play I try to give my contribution, my grain of sand, what I know how to do is try to defend and give the team unity”said Gonzalez Pirez.

Demichelis had something about Lucas Beltrán that didn’t quite convince him, even though he had been the best striker of the preseason. Miguel Borja and Pablo Solari were the titles of him, with the strong incorporation of Salomón Rondón and the illusion of being able to count on Matías Suárez. This was the scenario for the 21-year-old from Cordoba, who played 14 minutes in the first 4 games.

All up to him Viking He started on 5 against Arsenal and was River’s best, despite the fact that Demichelis eliminated him shortly after the start of the complement. That performance catapulted him. Then came the goals against Lanús, Racing de Córdoba and Godoy Cruz. The striker (who has a contract until the end of 2025 with a clause of 25 million euros) scored those 4 goals in just 244 minutes; that is, one celebration every 61 minutes. Beltrán is another of the coach’s obsessions for the visit to Junín.

“I hope to be able to follow the path of Julián Álvarez. I want to be successful in football and my expectations are very highBeltran said clarion on Tuesday. And I add: “For me Julián is an example, as well as being a friend. I learn things from him, I watch him all the time, I observe his movements, his playing characteristics. Juli made a big leap, the truth is that he was incredible seeing him grow so much in such a short time and accomplish so many things. As his friend, I’m proud and happy.”.