He had a career plagued by injuries, he caressed his vices, the Cyclone sought him out, he played in Spain and suffered from racism. Here, the complete story.
jackson martinez he dazzled all of Colombia with his talent inside the area. The forward came to be in the orbit of San Lorenzo and broke nets every weekend with Porto, but that glorious stage was forgotten because he began a downward climb due to injuries that included his premature retirement at 34 years old . Now, the former player of Atlético de Madrid made a tremendous confession about his career.
In dialogue with Channel 1, Martínez revealed the vices that he had to endure in the midst of his football career and the importance of religion to heal: “I lived a life made of lust and sin, I enjoyed sinning because I saw it as normal, as the rest of the world sees it. You will not see God as your everything unless he is the only thing you have left. And that’s why I made the decision to focus on him.”
After these sayings, he delved into the friendships of convenience that surround the footballer in times of success. There, he clicked. “In my case it was when I started to realize that some of the friends I went to parties with wanted more. They surrounded me with alcohol, cigarettes and so many other things”revealed.
The failed stage of Jackson Martínez in Atlético de Madrid with Simeone and the conflict that accelerated his departure
In July 2015, Jackson Martínez arrived at Atlético de Madrid as one of the star signings in the team led by Diego Simeone. El Colchonero paid 35 million euros to Porto from Portugal, but his stay lasted a breath. off the pitch, the former soccer player avoided revealing what caused his departure and stated that, at that stage, he suffered from racism.
With 3 goals and 2 assists in 22 games with the rojiblanco, Martínez was bought by Guangzhou Evergrande from China in exchange for 42 million euros and a salary of 12,500,000 a year. In this sense, he was dissatisfied with the lack of continuity that Cholo gave him in a chat with the Carrusel Americano podcast on Cadena SER: “As a player, you always want to play more and not because you think you are more than your teammates. I arrived to be the ‘9’ of the team and I did not have the minutes that I would have liked. One is in a competition and not every coach has the same vision as one, I know that with games he would respond. I have nice memories from there. What bothered me I have not said because it happened apart from the field, that was the reason for my departure.
Next, he recounted the ugly episode that he lived in Spanish lands: “In Spain I was a victim of racism. It was at the airport. Only God stopped that moment. I grabbed a drawer where you put your belongings and I hadn’t seen that a man had already taken it, I put my things there, I turned around, I was going to take off my shoes and he says: ‘Excuse me, I already have that one.’ I was going to get my stuff and the security guy told him: ‘you can share it’ and he replied: ‘I don’t share with blacks’. When he said that my first reaction was to get up, stand in front of him and I saw like a movie in my mind, if I had reacted I would have gone to jail. I kept quiet because I felt that if he spoke he would explode, I avoided speaking so that he would not answer me”.
San Lorenzo looked for Jackson Martínez in 2011: what made his arrival impossible
At the end of 2011, San Lorenzo was focused on strengthening because the average was lurking and It was going to be a complicated season with the unavoidable goal of avoiding relegation. Because of this, the president at the time -Carlos Abdo- wanted to satisfy coach Leonardo Madelón with the request for a center forward and the big target was Jackson Martinez.
However, the high claims of the Jaguares de México – it had bought it for almost 3 million euros from Independiente Medellín – hindered the negotiation between both entities. In that market, his arrival was cut short and, instead, The ex-Independiente, Cristian Chávez, arrived at the club. How did the season end? El Ciclón defeated Instituto in the Promotion and avoided relegation to the First National.
Jackson Martínez’s ordeal with injuries
Without knowing it, a summons with Colombia changed the career of jackson martinez. In a match against Chile, the scorer suffered an ankle injury in 2015 from which he was unable to recover and, some time ago, he made a crude account of his day to day: “This ordeal does not let me sleep. Almost every night, around 3 or 4 am like clockwork, I wake up due to foot discomfort. After a few minutes it passes and I go back to sleep.”
“Training isn’t easy either, I can’t do it two or three days in a row. I would like to work normally every day but the doctors and the physiotherapist told me that this was impossible”told the Récord de Portugal newspaper before officially retiring from football.
The spiritual change of Jackson Martínez: from soccer player to religious singer
From a very young age, jackson martinez showed his great qualities as a striker in Independent Medellin, which quickly led him to emigrate and install his name in the main European football leagues. But his shine quickly faded due to a large number of injuries that did not allow him to have continuity. Today, already 35 years old and retired, El Cafetero found a new passion: religious urban music.
“I made the decision at a critical moment in my career when I had two surgeries, that caused me to stay away from the court for two years without competing and in that time I dedicated myself a little more to writing and releasing an album”expressed the former player some time ago, whose first album was “I will not fear”released in 2018. Since then, Martínez has not stopped with his music and released a large number of singles.
Jackson Martinez’s career in numbers
- Independiente Medellín (2004/10): 21 goals and 7 assists in 29 games
- Jaguares de México (2010/12): 36 goals and 10 assists in 69 games
- Porto de Portugal (2012/15): 92 goals and 13 assists in 136 games
- Atlético de Madrid (2015/16): 3 goals and 2 assists in 22 games
- Guangzhou Evergrande of China (2016/18): 4 goals and 2 assists in 16 games
- Portimonense de Portugal (2018/20): 12 goals and 3 assists in 54 games
Fotos: Getty images.
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