The sports career Martin Palermo It was from a movie. With epic moments, others sad and many of great joy, the passage of the historic scorer of Boca Juniors for soccer and the Argentine national team he will be remembered by locals and strangers.
After passing through Aldosivi, a team that qualified for the quarterfinals of the League Cup, but which ended up moving away from the Mar del Plata club due to conflict with the leadership, the Titan He reviewed his extensive career in the Libero Versus de TyC Sports and talked about the chance to become the next Xeneize DT by 2023.
“You have to see, why they want to talk to me. What do you plan to do, what is the project to know if we are compatible to be able to work together. It is a wish. Surely the time will come to fulfill that wish.”Palermo said.
When asked about the record goal that made him the top scorer in the history of Boca after Riquelme’s pass, who did not want to celebrate with him, the former striker was blunt: “That moment of the goal was uncomfortable for not having been able to celebrate it with him. We had different ways of thinking. We don’t get to have a friendly relationship like with others. With certain players like Guillermo, Gustavo, el Pato, Cagna, I maintain fluid contact”he remembered.
When did you resume contact with the current vice president of Boca? “I spoke again to ask Aldosivi for players,” he added.
Beyond his thousand stories with the blue and gold shirt, Palermo was also the protagonist of an iconic conquest with the Argentine team. Con Diego Maradona As coach of Argentina, Palermo was the hero in the 2-1 win over Peru in a Monumental under heavy rain. “Take advantage of this situation, kill yourself”were the words that Fluff said to him before the giant entered the playing field and completed the feat. “It was intuition to follow the ball to be there and define”recalled how the play took place after Pocho Insúa’s search.
Once the match ended, the selected team achieved a key victory to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, Palermo referred to Diego’s visit already in the concentration in the Predio that the AFA has in Ezeiza. “It happened with Mancuso and with Enrique, I was with Sebastián (Verón). He opens the door and says ‘what an ass this guy has’”he said between laughs.
“The moment Diego called me and told me he was going to the World Cup was very special. I did not stop thanking him and he told me: “Thank you!” for the goal that he had made ”added to the memory once he was summoned to travel to South Africa.
Another of the important points of his time with the National Team was having shared the squad with Lionel Messi. more than a decade ago, the flea he was younger and lower profile than the current road to Qatar. “In South Africa we always went together on the bus. We were both shy, we didn’t say much to each other. I wanted to ask him things and I didn’t dare. We met with the families and ended up talking more with his brothers than with him ”.
Beyond having scored almost 300 goals in his career as a footballer, there was a day that was difficult for Palermo to go through. On August 6, 2006, Boca received Banfield at the Bombonera and nobody thought that Martín was going to join the group. In the hours before his unborn son Stéfano had died, in one of the hardest blows of his life.
With the endorsement of Coco Basile, at the time DT xeneize, who had told him to decide what he wanted to do, on the 9th he appeared in the concentration and started. What’s more, he scored a goal and dedicated it to his son. “It was a necessity. He couldn’t go back on what had happened. Difficult to assimilate. But the only thing that could charge me with energy was going out to play the game, beyond my little rest. With the support of teammates, coaching staff, fans. Being inside a court was what I felt at that moment, ”he revealed.
Other phrases from Palermo:
What were your most remembered classics against River: “In Diego’s last game. I make it 2-1, when he comes out at halftime. It was my first goal in a classic, which meant for the game. It was that connection with the fan. The most special was after my injury, in the quarterfinals of the Libertadores. Sebastián Battaglia’s pass, none of River came out to mark me, I turned and looked for Bonano’s farthest post”.
His crossing with Verón in the final for the 2006 title: “He wanted to win. I wanted to be champion with Boca. It was his way of getting me out of the game. I had friendly people, fans, faced a final. I, being a fan of Estudiantes, but I wanted to win it. It was a special moment. Later with Seba we were in the national team. And since it was everyone, we don’t need to have a chat.”
What was said with Bielsa after the three missed penalties: “He analyzed that he had been selfish. I told him no, that he was the designated kicker and I didn’t feel anyone’s order that he didn’t have to kick. Ayala came up to me to ask if he was up to kick him and I said yes. Bielsa was not on the bench, I think he had been expelled. I experienced it very naturally. He served me as an experience what I lived ”.
La Bombonera, a special stadium: “The day of the muletazo (quarterfinals of the Libertadores against River in 2000), it moved. I felt that. It was such a special moment, I felt that special vibe from the fans. You have to be, you have to play there. I experienced it as a coach, being in the visiting dressing room, what it generates energetically is incredible”.
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