Marcelo Gallardo

Early years and first seasons with River Plate

Born in Parque San Martín in the Merlo Partido in the Greater Buenos Aires area to construction worker Máximo Gallardo and nursing home employee Ana María (née Maidana), Gallardo began playing football at about age 10 in the local Once Colegiales and Nahuel clubs. After receiving offers from several First Division teams to join their junior squads, he landed a trial at River Plate and joined as a midfielder in 1988. Gallardo made his professional debut at age 17 for the club during the 1992–93 Argentinian Torneo de Clausura in a 2–0 win against Newell's Old Boys. The team then won the 1993–94 Torneo de Apertura. Gallardo won a series of national tournaments with the team during the next few seasons (including the 1994, 1996 and 1997 Torneo de Apertura and the 1997 Torneo de Clausura), and became a starting midfielder by 1996. He received his first international trophy (the Copa Libertadores) that year, as River Plate defeated América de Cali 2–1 in the final series. Starting both matches on the bench, Gallardo took the field in the second half. River Plate lost the Intercontinental Cup 0–1 to Juventus at Tokyo's National Stadium several months later. Gallardo was scouted by European teams during the late 1990s and signed with France's Ligue 1 Monaco, bringing his initial spell with River Plate to an end with the 1998–99 season. He had played 109 league games with the club and scored 17 goals.

Monaco

Gallardo…

Gallardo was considered for the Argentina national under-20 football team, but could not participate in the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship in Qatar because Argentina national team coach Daniel Passarella wanted to include him on his squad (where he started at age 18 in 1994). He debuted in a 3–0 friendly-match victory against Chile in Santiago that year, substituting for Marcelo Espina. The midfielder won his first international championship the following year, a gold medal at the 1995 Pan American Games. Considered a key player with Guillermo Barros Schelotto, he scored one of the victory goals in the final penalty shootout against Mexico. Argentina then finished second in the 1995 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 1996 Summer Olympics. Despite losing the Olympics' final to Nigeria, Gallardo said in 2018 that he valued that silver medal. He was on the Argentina squad for the 1995 and 1997 Copa América, reaching the quarter-finals both times (considered a failure by the local press). Although Gallardo had a series of injuries (including a hamstring strain due to a lack of rest between matches) before the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, he played in the group stage against Jamaica and Croatia and in the eighth-finals victory against England; the team lost in the quarter-finals to Holland. After a near-perfect performance in the CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup qualification, Argentina entered the World Cup in Japan and South Korea as one of the favourites; however, they were…

Nacional

In 2010, before retiring as a player, Gallardo obtained his coaching certificate from José Farías de Vicente López Technical School 62 in Vicente López, Buenos Aires. Days after announcing his retirement from the Nacional de Montevideo squad which won the 2010–11 Uruguayan Primera División season championship, he accepted the team's offer to coach. Nacional defended their championship the next season, becoming the 2011–2012 champions for Gallardo. His assistants included Matías Biscay, Pablo Rodríguez and Marcelo Tulbovitz. Gallardo later described managing Nacional as an "accelerated course", coaching players with whom he had played.

River Plate

2014–2015

On 6 June 2014, Gallardo was presented by technical secretary and former teammate Enzo Francescoli as the new manager of River Plate after the controversial resignation of Ramón Díaz on 27 May. He brought some of his assistants from Nacional de Montevideo, such as Matías Biscay and Marcelo Tulbovitz. Díaz' key players Carlos Carbonero, Manuel Lanzini and Cristian Ledesma left the club, and players he had relegated (such as Carlos Sánchez and Rodrigo Mora) returned. River Plate bought only two players: attacking midfielder Leonardo Pisculichi, who had been relegated to second division with Argentinos Juniors, and goalkeeper Julio Chiarini from Instituto de Córdoba.

Gallardo's coaching style was praised by the Argentine press, with the team tying its all-time unbeaten record on 9…

Throughout his career, Gallardo played a central or attacking midfield role as a playmaker. A skillful, intelligent player, he was valued for his vision, technique, class, dribbling, and ability to defeat opponents in one-on-one situations and was best known for defence-splitting passes. Gallardo was noted for his accuracy with direct free kicks and his ball delivery from corners and set pieces. His playing style was compared to Diego Maradona in his youth.