Martín Demichelis responded to Barco’s penalties missed for River and why he took him out at half-time in Tucumán

He chewed his anger Martin Demichelis when the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of the first half. He was the first to enter the locker room, with a hasty step and an unfriendly face. He had given no indication after 30 minutes. Esequiel boat He missed two penalties, disobeying the coach’s instruction to execute Miguel Borja. The final 0-0 against Atletico Tucumán He transformed that action into a decisive one, but the coach did not dribble the answer in the subsequent press conference, because the substitution before the start of Franco Mastantuono’s complement was evidently hiding a free kick.

“Anyone can miss a penalty, in this case two. Esequiel left because I thought he wasn’t one hundred percent emotionally, Esequiel is a good guy, he wanted to convert, he apologized to me because he’s not self-centered, he doesn’t think only of himself. In this case he didn’t want to give up the ball, he learns from everything and today you get a great experience from here.”explained what happened inside the locker room of the Monumental José Fierro stadium.

“He is an unbalanced player, he was doing well, after missing the second penalty there were discontinuous situations on his part and I thought he wasn’t doing well. I knew he wouldn’t be good, that’s why I sent Mastantuono to move and took him out at halftime to take care of him and also to not miss a single window. “There’s no need to dramatize the situation.”the substitution was completed, which placed the Independiente player on the substitutes’ bench.

Regarding the definition of the sanctions enforcer, he stated: “One of the two has the task of kicking and decides based on his feelings. But when Esequiel made a mistake, I attended and asked for it to be Miguel, but that didn’t happen and the result is what we know.”.

10 days before the Superclásico, another headache appeared for Demichelis in the second half and it was the injury of Borja, who asked for a substitution due to a thigh muscle problem. “Miguel asked for the change, he knows his body, now we will have to wait for the medical team to say what he needs and how he is doing. Sometimes rotations are necessary, we waited until today to define the team and he asked for the change”held.

He also had time to analyze the draw in Tucumán, which left him the only leader in zone A, where he remains undefeated after five matches. “We felt comfortable from the first minute, we were lucky to get to half-time without conceding a goal. We finished better than we started but in the end what we tried to do from the first minute didn’t materialise”He explained.

What happened in the two penalties missed by Barco for River?

In the next few hours and days there will be a lot of talk about Esequiel Barco’s challenge to the authority of coach Martín Demichelis. Football players are brave, you know. And sometimes capricious. It’s true that the outcome is what ends up tipping the scales one way or the other. What would have happened if Barco had scored the penalty?

The sequence was clear. Néstor Breitenbruch brings down Ignacio Fernández in the area and Arasa scores the penalty. Barco took a ball under his arm and Borja another. There was a fight and the midfielder won; The Colombian sends the ball into the stands with a volley. The former Independiente’s shot ends up in the center and José Devecchi saves with his right leg. But VAR observed Alexis Flores’ invasion of the area and the penalty was repeated.

There the challenge to authority takes place because an energetic Demichelis orders Barco not to kick and Borja to do so. Nacho Fernández went to convince him, but he failed. The Colombian striker gave the creative midfielder a slap in the face as a sign of support. The shot ends up several meters over the crossbar and the coach is expelled from the substitutes’ bench with more than just anger. There were 28 minutes left until the start of the opening phase.

In the rest of the first stage Demichelis gave no indications and remained with his arms crossed. Barco, on the other hand, almost didn’t touch the ball. When Arasa scored the final goal, all his teammates went to cheer for Barco, while the coach quickly entered the locker room with a dark look on his face.

Of course, this is not the first time that Barco has taken such an attitude. In March last year, in a match against Godoy Cruz, he denied a penalty to Lucas Beltrán, who was looking for his first hat-trick in the First Division.

And the decision made by Micho at half-time will also be talked about: he eliminated him to insert the young Franco Mastantuono.