River hurricane: from attacking style to all-around scoring power and Martín Demichelis’ hidden record in great campaign
River is voracious. It is constantly hungry. It searches, searches and searches constantly for the opponent’s goal. Even taking risks that may expose him more than necessary. He knows it, he assimilates it. It plays with adrenaline and intensity and is aware of what it may suffer. It prepares itself to leave spaces to the rival, but also to be insatiable, aggressive, crushing. He never gives up his offensive essence. It may change some pieces depending on the opponent, but never its DNA. Not even in contexts that may be more adverse than usual. That’s how he lives. And in part it can afford it because of the quantity, variety and quality of its pieces. They all defend, they all attack: they have scored 54 goals in the 28 games of the semester with 14 different authors.
River scored in all the games of the year and reached the best record of the century: it surpassed the 27 goals scored by Manuel Pellegrini in 2003. Furthermore, counting the last seven games of Marcelo Gallardo’s cycle, it is now 35 consecutive matches with at least one goal in all competitions. This is the fifth best record for the club, which holds the world record: El Millonario scored goals in 96 consecutive matches between 1936 and 1939 under Hirschl and Cesarini.
Barco, De la Cruz and Beltrán, three unbalancing players in this winning moment for River
Leading the Professional League with a ten-point advantage over second-placed Talleres, 22 points behind Boca, qualified for the Champions Trophy and the Argentine Cup and one win away from sealing their ticket to the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores, the scenario built by Martin Demichelis destroyed any kind of lucubration about the difficulties of the post-Gallardo transition. So much so that the current DT has the second best start as a coach in all of River’s history, according to the records of the Numeral River account. He has 28 points from 28 games with 20 wins, three draws and five losses. He is only surpassed by José María Minella, who in 1947 scored 67 points -currently- with 21 wins, four draws and three defeats.
Now, while the focus is on Tuesday’s game against The Strongest at the Monumental to continue with Libertadores aspirations, the 3-1 win against Instituto was another confirmation of the many variants that El Millonario has in attack. They all reach the penalty area: forwards, midfielders and midfielders. On Thursday, Nicolás De La Cruz, Ignacio Fernández and Lucas Beltrán scored, but so did full-backs Andrés Herrera and Milton Casco, for example, with clear chances in the first half.
Of those 58 goals scored by River (1.92 average per game), the leader is Lucas Beltrán, scorer with 14 goals and a key player in the team’s structure. Then, Esequiel Barco and Miguel Ángel Borja appear with six goals and Ignacio Fernández closes the podium, who scored five goals and is the player with the most minutes in the squad after Franco Armani. The list is completed by Pablo Solari (4), Salomón Rondón (3), Nicolás De La Cruz (3), Matías Suárez (2), Santiago Simón (2), José Paradela (2), Rodrigo Aliendro (2), Leandro González Pirez (2), Agustín Palavecino (1), Robert Rojas (1) and a goal against.
Pablo Solari celebrates his goal against Banfield – Credits @Fotobaires
“We are one of the teams with the least defeated goal, we are defensively solid. Obviously, when we propose and attack we sometimes leave spaces. The good thing is that we concede very few goals, I think that is one of our great virtues. Also, we handle the ball very well at times and generate many situations. In general terms, the team is doing very well”, analyzed Ignacio Fernández after the 3-1 win over Instituto.
The five strikers in the squad have scored throughout the semester, but seven midfielders and two defenders have also been added. River is making the most of the alternatives it has and protecting them with a collective gear that continues to grow. And although at times it gives the feeling that it generates more than it converts and that it can be converted without generating so much, besides being the highest scoring team in the league (39), it is also the second lowest scoring team (13). It has a consolidated block of play, with the central defenders moving forward, the fullbacks projected, the midfielders with freedom and the forwards moving all over the front line to be indecipherable and sharp, beyond constantly exposing themselves to a mistake or a counterattack by the rival. It’s their way.
“There is no solution for everything. It’s soccer. You have to generate as many options as you can during the minutes, but you don’t always have the strength to generate three and score three. We had to change a lot defensively due to different circumstances and that also makes it take time to find defensive solidity. But we did not go out to speculate and wait for the minutes to pass. We are going to generate a lot of chances because I like to get to the ball a lot. And if the boys make mistakes, that’s fine. I don’t like to arrive too little,” said coach Demichelis a few days ago. The decision has been made. River takes risks. Always.
River’s best against Instituto
With their goal-scoring power, El Millonario put behind them a questionable start to 2023 and a cup storm that put them on the ropes. With goals and more goals, Demichelis’ team has found a positive succession of variants that today allow him to move pieces without affecting the game. Those who are usually starters and those who come in from the bench are responding. With this confidence on the rise, on Tuesday the Monumental will once again experience a Libertadores night with decisive dyes, just as it happened against Fluminense two weeks ago. The only thing that seems to be missing is that victory for the final consolidation.