The scene, as they tell it, was one of immediate impact, without fuss, with measured words and a heavy silence that usually appears when a news story goes beyond sports and touches the heart of an institution's identity. The leadership reacted quickly. Enzo Francescoli, in his role as Sporting Director, approached the training ground to bring the coach a message of support and containment. The recent record also weighed heavily: a string of matches without the competitive standard he himself had established as the norm during his golden era. In private, with his inner circle, the coach matured the conclusion he then kept until the right moment. At the club, they describe that what most impacted was not just the result, but the manner: a first half in which River Plate was surpassed in attitude and intensity, something that for Gallardo serves as a major alarm. At 16:10, in Ezeiza, the manager entered the facility with the gesture of someone who has already traversed, from the inside, the most difficult part of the road: to accept that the cycle—his second cycle—had been broken and that, for the first time since his return, he could not find an honest way to sustain his command. The decision was not impulsive. If the end is already inevitable, in Núñez they seek that it be, at least, worthy of the emotional bond the coach built with the public. Until that moment, direct communication with President Stefano Di Carlo had been activated. Buenos Aires - February 24, 2026 - Total News Agency - TNA - Marcelo Gallardo arrived at the River Camp on Monday afternoon with a determination made and a phrase that, due to its symbolic weight, is difficult to write without making a fan's skin crawl: on Thursday he will direct his last match as coach of River Plate and then will present his resignation. He recognized the pain of not being able to meet the objectives, thanked the 'reciprocal' love with the people and left a wish that sounded like a legacy: that River soon finds results that allow it to continue to enhance the place of a 'model institution' that, in his view, the club consolidated in recent years. The farewell match will be on Thursday, February 26, from 19:30, at the Monumental, against Banfield, for the Opening Tournament. When Francescoli learned of the determination, he raised the news to the political leadership and there the alarms went off: Di Carlo moved to the River Camp that same afternoon-night and held an extensive meeting with the coach. He did not announce it in the heat of the moment or leaked it to third parties. The president, who was one of the main promoters of Gallardo's return and who headed the contractual renewal signed at the end of 2025, tried to convince him to continue. Before practice, he gathered the group and communicated the essentials: he would direct the match on Thursday against Banfield and then would step aside. In parallel, the sporting context hardened with injuries and absences in key positions, a factor that conditioned planning and functioning in a semester of constant pressure. While the fan processes the news, the club is already moving in succession mode. The DT had already closed his decision internally: it was not about negotiating conditions, but about assuming a limit. With the climate of expectation growing minute by minute, Gallardo chose to speak directly to the fan. He chose the face-to-face with the squad and the club. In any case, the search will not be just tactical: River will need a leader capable of ordering a locker room, sustaining the demand and, above all, living with the inevitable shadow of the one who left a historical bar. On Thursday, at the Monumental, there will be a last shared gesture: Gallardo with his DT suit for the last time, and the people with that applause that mixes gratitude, sadness and a question that will remain floating: how do you continue after the man who changed the era is gone. Sources consulted: Infobae; La Nación; Olé; AS; TyC Sports; official River Plate website; DSPORTS. He did it with a brief, intimate video in which his voice broke more than once. On the radar are profiles with different trajectories and styles, with some names that have gained strength in recent hours: Eduardo Coudet and Santiago Solari are among the most mentioned; alternatives also appear such as Hernán Crespo, and the internal consensus that awakens Pablo Aimar, today linked to the technical body of the Argentine national team, is repeated—although with concrete obstacles. He did not achieve it. 'I will try to be brief,' he anticipated, as if he knew that farewells become more difficult the more you explain them. No one ignores that, beyond the outcome of this stage, his figure was engraved in the great history for the harvest of 14 titles in his previous cycle, a point of reference that makes any continuity more demanding and, at the same time, makes the comparison more cruel when the present does not accompany. In numbers, this second stage will be marked by the distance from that triumphant version: 85 matches, with 35 victories, 32 draws and 18 defeats, an efficiency that the coach himself considered insufficient for the size of the challenge. It incubated during hours of analysis and silence after the 1-0 defeat against Vélez Sarsfield, at the José Amalfitani, a blow that deepened a negative streak and left worrying signs in performance.
