Driussi and the injury curse since his return to River | OneFootball

Since his arrival at the start of 2025, whenever the striker hit a good run of form, the team’s performances were clearly better. His absences through injury usually lead to an overall drop-off. What options does Coudet have to mask this shortcoming?

Since Eduardo Coudet took over as coach, River put together a string of good results that was only interrupted by the painful Superclásico defeat to Boca. But even in that match, there was one recurring detail that has been evident since the start of 2025: the team lost fluency after Sebastián Driussi went off injured.

In that same match, the Millonario had started better and, although they still were not threatening Leandro Brey’s goal, they clearly controlled their rival and were able to string together combinations through the middle, something in which the ‘9’ stands out well above the other players competing for the spot. Maximiliano Salas came on in his place and the game changed radically. Against Aldosivi, the former Racing player started again, and centrally focused play was once more nowhere to be seen. Clearly, there is a recurring pattern.

Beyond his goals (he scored five in eight matches under Chacho), Driussi gives the team the chance to find passes between the lines and to put the midfielders facing the opposition goal. It may seem minor, but when that connection is not flowing, play becomes overloaded on the flanks and everything turns more predictable. It happened against Boca, but also at the start of the year with Marcelo Gallardo as coach and even throughout 2025.

Going back chronologically, at the start of this season, when the Muñeco seemed to be getting River back on track, the Gordo got injured in Rosario and left the field at halftime of the draw against Central. Not coincidentally, after a very good first half, the team’s level dropped badly in the second and the Millonario held on to the 0-0 thanks to Santiago Beltrán. The following matches, already without him on the pitch, ended in defeats to Tigre and Argentinos, and his rushed return against Vélez did not change the equation. Conclusion: Gallardo’s spell came to an end.

Driussi’s previous injuries that marked Gallardo’s spell

Earlier, Driussi had been injured in the first leg against Palmeiras (everyone knows how that ended), but that defeat was only the start of the team’s definitive decline in 2025. Without a natural replacement, Gallardo was left without his key man and the team went on a run of eight defeats in 10 matches; and although he returned during that stretch, he never really got back into rhythm.

To a lesser extent, the other time when his exit coincided with a footballing downturn was at the Club World Cup. After scoring against Urawa Red Diamonds in the opener, he suffered a serious ankle sprain and the team went out of the competition playing poorly and failing to score in the two remaining matches.

With no other player of his profile in the squad, Driussi’s form tends to go hand in hand with the team’s. Whenever he hit a good run, the results came and performances improved, but with each of his injuries, the team feels his absence and cannot find a way to replace his goal threat and link-up play.

Coudet’s options to mask Driussi’s absence

At a decisive stage of the semester, Chacho has so far opted for Salas. The left-footer has some qualities that are the opposite of Driussi’s and finds central play more difficult. He needs space and to go one-on-one against opposing center-backs. That is why, among other things, against Aldosivi the team had to rely on Gonzalo Montiel’s forward runs, Marcos Acuña’s distribution and Ian Subiabre’s occasional flashes of imbalance.

The other alternative is Joaquín Freitas. The youngster who came through at Acassuso struggles more to hold off center-backs with his back to goal, but he knows how to lay the ball off and can combine more naturally than the former Racing player. At just 19 years old, he is still a small step behind his competitor today, but if performances like last Saturday’s are repeated (he provided the assist for the third goal), everything could change.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.