Marcelo Gallardo highlighted Platense and acknowledged his team's lack of fluidity.

River suffered a tough elimination in the Apertura Tournament after losing to Platense at the Monumental stadium. Although they managed to tie at the end of the match thanks to the controversial penalty on Miguel Borja, the penalty shootout ended up reflecting what the development of the game had been.

This was acknowledged by Marcelo Gallardo, who in the post-match press conference was brief and direct. "More than concern, I have the frustration of not reaching the end, which was one of the objectives. Today we couldn't flow as we had been doing, but we also have to recognize the opponent's work, who made merits so that we couldn't show what we had been doing as a team," he began by saying.

In his subsequent statements, the coach expanded more on his analysis: "Sometimes you manage to subdue the opponent beyond what they propose and win by persistence, and sometimes, you don't. This time they cut our circuits. We conceded a goal, and that gave them a much greater perspective, positioned them better, and gave them superior energy. They worked the match very well, and we didn't find the paths due to that good work Platense did, we couldn't be creative to break that."

Gallardo also referred to the team's dynamics throughout the match. "When the match starts to break and you are at a disadvantage, I'm not saying there's desperation, but the search isn't very clear. The tie came more from pride than from a football search," he remarked.

When drawing a balance of the elimination, the coach expressed: "I feel the anger of having our football momentum cut. We have to take the hit and the frustration because we had been having good feelings."

Finally, when asked about the team's difficulty in penalty shootouts, Gallardo was clear: "We will try to work to avoid reaching penalties and if it comes to that, it should be a different story. We shouldn't be invaded by a negativity that's already in the environment. I don't like reaching that stage, but well, you have to decide that way. The kickers will have to go with confidence and conviction. Today's result clearly leaves us with a very bitter taste."