In First, Banfield was trained by Oscar López and Oscar Cavallero, with a renewed squad such as former Ferro Carril Oeste player Oscar Acosta and the experienced goalkeeper Ángel Comizzo (who had been relegated from River Plate by then-coach Daniel Passarella were some of new players). But it was a young Javier Zanetti who would be the revelation of the team at the end of the season. Banfield made good campaigns during his first years in First, although the team could not repeat those good performances in successive tournaments, being finally relegated. In 1997.