Marcelo Gallardo coached his last game at River: thrashing Real Betis of Spain

With an atmosphere full of emotions, Marcelo Gallardo directed his last game in front of the first team of River Plate in the 4-0 victory over Real Betis of Spain – last champion of the Copa del Rey – and closed an eight-year cycle in the institution. The sum of 14 titles -between local and international- only contributes numbers to the greatness of the technical director within the history of the club of Nuñez. Over eight years, Gallardo – who was already in the hearts of the fans for his time as a player – managed to put River’s name at the top repeatedly.
But the closing of a story of romanticism between the coach and the “Millionaire” had to come, and he did it this afternoon in an unbeatable way. In a friendly against Real Betis, currently in sixth place in La Liga, the team once again showed its quality and beat the Spanish team by four goals to zero. The first goal came seven minutes into the first half, through Bruno Zuculini, who did not hesitate and went to find the coach to dedicate the goal in an emotional celebration. Eight minutes later, the central midfielder entered from the right to head and thus realize the second cry of River.En the second half, Miguel Borja scored the third at ten minutes with a great gambeta to Dani Martín to be facing the empty goal and thus define. In addition, the game also had the retirement of Javier Pinola, who left at 28 minutes of the second half and stuck to a sustained embrace with Gallardo while trying to contain the tears. As part of the farewells, referee Patricio Loustau directed his last match and closed his career at age 47. Many comments point to Loustau as the successor of Federico Beligoy in the leadership of the Arbitration Directorate. 

Original source in Spanish