Chivas have a new head coach. On Monday night, the Guadalajara management announced the appointment of Gabriel Milito, who will take charge of the team ahead of the Liga MX Apertura 2025 tournament.
The 44-year-old replaces Gerardo Espinoza, who parted company with the club in April, after only a month and a half at the helm.
Milito oversees Chivas practice before announcement
Milito arrived in Guadalajara on Sunday morning, and spoke of his desire for his time as Chivas boss to be a “beautiful story”. On Monday, he led his first training session and met the squad that is now under his command. However, it wasn’t until later that evening that Chivas official confirmed his arrival.
“Club Deportivo Guadalajara informs the entire Rojiblanca Nation that Gabriel Milito will be the new coach of Chivas for the 2025 Liga MX Apertura Tournament and the Leagues Cup,” Chivas said in a statement.
“His [opening] foray as a DT [head coach] was in 2013 at Independiente’s academy. Subsequently, he coached Estudiantes, O’Higgins, Argentinos Juniors and recently Atlético Mineiro of Brazil.
“As a player, he also had an outstanding career, as he was a central defender who wore traditional jerseys worldwide, such as those of Zaragoza and Futbol Club Barcelona.”
Although he had a brilliant playing career, Milito has not yet enjoyed the same level of success as a coach. In 2024, he won the Campeonato Mineiro title in Brazil and also reached the Copa Libertadores final with Atlético Mineiro, a match they lost to Botafogo.
A coach whose teams are “aggressive with the ball”
“During his time as coach of Argentinos, Milito used to use a line of 3, 4 inside midfielders and 3 attackers, “ Chivas said in their statement. ”One of his main characteristics was the creativity he showed when designing outlets with the ball, as he gives freedom to his defenders to drive and gain meters in the field.
“His teams usually look for short partnerships, thanks to the formation of his players on the inside. In phases without the ball he has also shown good things, as his teams press 1-on-1 and from this they try to generate steals in the first offensive actions of the rival.
“Gabriel Milito encourages the construction of teams that are aggressive with the ball, that propose the games and that manage to maintain an extremely high rhythm when they lose the ball in order to make the rival uncomfortable and recover as quickly as possible.”