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River Plate will try to win the Copa Libertadores again because “it is everyone’s dream,” coach Marcelo Gallardo said on Monday on his return to the South American giants.
Gallardo won 14 titles in his first spell at River, including the 2015 and 2018 Copa Libertadores, in his eight-and-a-half years at the helm from 2014 to 2022, before coaching Saudi Pro League side Al Ittihad from 2023-24.
“The main objective is to go for everything that is at stake and mainly to focus on the Libertadores,” Gallardo said at his presentation at River’s Monumental stadium.
“It’s everyone’s dream [the Libertadores title], it’s the dream we all have. We are going to do everything we can to be able to play in this competition with a lot of determination and to be able to advance, and of course with the illusion of winning it.”
Victories over fierce rivals Boca Juniors in the 2014 Copa Sudamericana and the 2015, 2018 and 2019 Libertadores left a mark on Argentine football and the history of the rivalry between the country’s most popular clubs.
“The first thing I feel at this moment is a lot of emotion, which has to do with mixed feelings, with the fact that it’s not long since I left but it would seem that I never left,” Gallardo said.
“I am in the place where I belong, in the place where I feel, and there is a lot of expectation that has to do with what we can do from here on.”
Gallardo takes over following the exit of Martin Demichelis, who stepped down after a run of poor results this year after being hired in 2023.
“There is a lot of work to do, which is clearly underway. The train is on the move and we have to try to be very precise with an idea and a message that has an impact quickly,” Gallardo said.
River host Huracan in the Argentine league on Saturday in the first game of the most successful coach in the club’s history latest spell in charge.
Information from Reuters was used in this story.