There are moments in football that transcend the sport. What happened on Thursday at the Monumental was one of those moments. Marcelo Gallardo left, but he left behind a phrase that will probably linger in the air of that stadium for a long time: one leaves, but never truly leaves. That farewell phrase of love perfectly summarizes what this man means to River.

The match ended 3-1 against Banfield. A result that almost went unnoticed because the real news was not on the field but in what happened afterward. Gallardo went down alone to the locker room, without his assistants Matías Biscay and Hernán Buján waiting at the door. Dressed all in black, except for the red and white shield on his chest. He moved as if he already knew that something was coming to an end.

In the press room, the Muñeco was brief. He thanked the fans, the journalists who accompanied him through these two cycles, and then said what many did not expect. He said that tomorrow he might be looking for his son at school nearby, that he was not truly saying goodbye. And then came the farewell phrase of love that fans needed to hear: I will be very attentive to what happens in this club while I am away. It’s not a real goodbye. It’s a promise.

The Monumental stands knew it. When Gallardo entered the field for the last time in this cycle, the ovation was one of those that hurt. Fans booed the expensive reinforcements who didn’t perform, but for him, there was only applause. There was a nearly three-minute video, a banner running through the San Martín stand with a message that Gallardo himself once wrote: don’t let the news overshadow the story.

Pedro Troglio, a colleague and also a product of the Monumental, said without hesitation: he is the most winning figure in history. No one disputes that. No one also disputes that the farewell phrase of love he uttered reflects the reality of his bond with River. He’s not a coach who is leaving. He’s someone who simply changes direction but keeps his heart in the same place.

What’s interesting is that after 570 days of a second cycle that didn’t produce the same results as the first, Gallardo leaves without bitterness. He leaves with the certainty that he did everything he could, and that the love between him and this club doesn’t need a contract to exist. That’s what was left in the air that night. It wasn’t just a farewell. It was a reaffirmation that some things transcend football, and that farewell phrase of love sums it all up.