River’s losing streak in Venezuela and Martín Demichelis’ frank response to criticism of his team’s performance

With the face, with the nose, like a carom, River needed to score zero in San Cristóbal to return from Venezuela with three points on the debut of the Copa Libertadores. And for the Uruguayan Sebastiano Boselli It will be unforgettable. Because it was his first goal in his short career (he is 21 years old), with 21 games in Defensor Sporting, 19 in Uruguay’s youth team and the 8 played in Millonario.

Plus, that Boselli goal ended River’s streak without an away win in the Libertadores, since 2-1 against Colo Colo on 27 April 2022. After, he accumulated six without winning, with two draws and four defeats: 1-1 with Fortaleza, 0-1 with Vélez, 1-3 with Il Più Forte, 1-5 with Fluminense, 1-1 with Sporting Cristal and 1-2 with ‘International. Furthermore, since 2015, River has always started playing as guests and it is the fourth victory in the last 10 debutants (3 draws and 3 defeats).

Then came the goal of the other Uruguayan from Martín Demichelis’ team, Nicolás Fonseca, the first in eleven games with River, and the second in his career (the other with the Montevideo Wanderers shirt). The last time the Argentine team won with a brace of foreigners was on January 12, 2021 against Palmeiras 2-0: the Paraguayan Robert Rojas and the Colombian Rafael Santos Borré.

While the last time River won in the Libertadores with a Uruguayan brace was 6-2 against Nacional in Montevideo, on 17 December 2020, when Jorge Carrascal and Nicolás de la Cruz scored, in addition to Borré’s triple and a by Bruno Zuculini.

Another piece of information? Every time River has been champion of the Copa Libertadores (1996, 2015 and 2018), Millonario’s first goal has been scored by a Uruguayan.

Demichelis, against criticism

He had already had a spicy response on Friday, after losing the unbeaten in 2024 against Huracán away for the League Cup. But this Tuesday, once again, Martín Demichelis had to step up when faced with critical voices regarding his team’s performance.

“When I talked about Nacho I was ironic. I took everyone out, I didn’t have to take Armani out. Barco had to wait today, Miguel Borja also had to wait and so on. We have a very large squad, “With a lot of hierarchy. Whatever you consider appropriate for the game in question, they will have to play and the others will have to continue training to fight for a place,” he explained of the changes.

And he went on to talk in depth about the changes he makes date after date: “I have such a strong squad that with 11 players they will protest for those who didn’t play or why they didn’t come on.. We had planned to fall back into the 4-4-2 and Echeverri was not convenient. The Libertadores is difficult, especially the first match. You need personality, intelligence, leaders from the beginning.”

Specifically he spoke about Ignacio Fernández. “Nacho is a leader who helps us in many details that make us improve. We were coming off two defeats, it wasn’t easy to go out and play and you have to know how to play Cup matches. He came in well and I’ll stay on this. If he had started maybe he couldn’t have had the performance he had with the game stopped. It’s a hypothetical thing. I was left with the glass half full and we took a step forward. Well, this is why we came,” he reflected.

When asked about the offensive trident (Solari-Colidio-Borja) planted at the beginning in San Cristóbal, the millionaire coach analyzed: “Today he gave us a lot. With those three very high players, five players had to withdraw, so from some part on the pitch We had two more players to dominate and stay comfortable. If for you performance means that Solari eliminates him 5 or 10 times from the lead score, well yes, it’s one against one, but we think globally, collectively… , functionally and from that positional comfort we were able to become dominant and felt very comfortable in the game.”

“The Copa Libertadores, at the beginning and especially as a guest, is not easy. We took the first step very well, we won on a pitch where I don’t think the other rivals will win”, concluded the coach.