Martín Demichelis, his first Superclásico as DT, his story against Boca and the night he chased Riquelme all over the pitch

At 42, Martin Demichelis lives the big dream of his life after retiring as a footballer: be a river coach. It’s the place he’s wanted since he started attending the coaching course and heading up the training divisions of Bayern Munich. And now he is faced with the most awaited match. Micho he will face his first at the Monumental on Sunday Super classic.

And it is an important test. Not just because matches against Mouth to score, but because River comes to the match against its eternal rival in an unsuspected situation just a week ago, with a heavy blow in the Copa Libertadores, where they were beaten 5-1 by Fluminense in Brazil.

Therefore, before him first big setback Since Millionaire took over as coach, Demichelis, in addition to his daily football and tactical work, has aimed in the last few hours to have in-depth talks with his players with the intention of quickly boosting their morale.

As far as he could find out clarionthere was self-criticism, mistakes were reviewed and efforts were promised to be redoubled so as not to lower the intensity and not lose concentration at key moments so that what happened on Tuesday at the Maracana does not happen again.

Anyway, River continues to be the leader -with 34 points- in the Lega Professionisti, in which they won eleven games, drew one and lost two, are the team with the highest score of the tournament with 25 goals and one of the least conceded (6), take 6 points from their backup , San Lorenzo and 16 to their Sunday rivals, Boca.

So, with the intention of bringing out the sacred fire of the Superclásico, Demichelis’ message to his team was also aimed at the good that the team is building in the league and which has been praised so much in recent weeks for a reason.

For Micho it will be his first Superclásico as a coach and now in a suit and tie and on the other side of the lime line he will feel sensations he hasn’t felt for 20 years. when he played his last match against Boca with the red armband on his chest.

As his sale to Bayern Munich went quickly, less than two years after his First Division debut, Demichelis only played in three Superclásicos officers. The first of these was on March 10, 2002 in La Bombonera, when the team led by Ramón Díaz beat Maestro Tabárez’s team 3-0, the afternoon of Ricardo Rojas’ vaseline. Current coach Millonario came on after 22 minutes of the second half in place of Víctor Zapara.

More than seven months later, on 27 October 2002, in his second official Superclásico, Demichelis could not celebrate again when River (led by Manuel Pellegrini) lost 2-1 (two goals from Delgado cello for Xeneize and Esteban Fuertes had temporarily drawn for the local) against Boca at the Monumental.

And the third and last was played on 1 June 2003, at the Bombonera, and he didn’t have a good memory because he was sent off in the 36th minute of the first half by Héctor Baldassi, after Guillermo Barros Schelotto had simulated an infraction that the referee he bought and got the second yellow card from the central goalscorer. River won 2-0 but Boca raised to make it 2-2.

They were not, however, the only classics Demichelis played. He also did it in four others, of a friendly nature. And the first of them, in which he made his debut against Boca, almost five months after making his debut in the First Division, has left a peculiarity: He left a man-to-man mark on Juan Román Riquelme.

In the 21st minute of the second half, at the Mario Kempes in Córdoba, where the summer friendly match of 30 January 2002 was played, won by River 1-0 with a goal by Fernando Cavenaghi, Ramón Díaz sent Micho onto the field in Guillermo Pereyra’s match to play as central midfielder (his role before becoming a defender) and ordered him to go after the current vice president of Boca.

“’Kid, forget the ball and everything else,’ Ramón told me. When I entered, I disturbed Riquelme, I breathed on him, I spoke to him… The game is over, we stayed close and I pulled his hand, but he looked at me, didn’t even answer me and we didn’t say goodbye “, Demichelis said in interviews before becoming manager of River.

The curious thing is what happened some time later when they met again in a concentration in Argentina. “In one of my first call-ups to the national team, one day Román called me and said ‘come on boy’ and made me tell all my teammates about the pushes and things I had done to him in that game to put him in difficulty . He remembered as if he had a computer in his headDemichelis narrated.

In addition to that match in Córdoba, the former defender also played in three other friendlies against Boca. One was on June 15, 2002, in Miami, where Micho started in a 2-1 River win, the other, on January 25, 2003, in Mar del Plata, where he started and played the whole game. It finished 0-0 and on penalties – Micho deflected his goals – Boca won 5-4 and the rest, two weeks later (on February 7, 2003), in Mendoza, where they drew 3-3 and Xeneize won 5-3 from twelve steps.

The next chapter will start being written next Sunday, from 5.30pm, at the Monumental stadium.