Alejandro Muñoz could not consecrate himself in football, but he lived everything through Emiliano. He revealed complicities, champion secrets and more.
Emiliano Martinez spent four years in the pension of Independentuntil after playing with the Argentina team the South American Sub-17 in 2009, he went to England. Before becoming a player Arsenal At 16 years old and having lived almost half of her life there, there was a large part of her that she left here. Besides his family, his best friend from the Inferior del Rojo stayed. his name is Alejandro Muñoz and is still the closest to “Dibu”, a nickname that he himself gave him. I know your story.
Like Dibu, Muñoz is category 92. He was born in Villa Mercedes, San Luis, and at age 11 it was Enrique Borrelli who took him to Independiente. He was a midfielder with exquisite technique, offensive characteristics and goals, according to his cover letter. In 2004, Alejandro traveled with Red to a tournament in Chapadmalal, where they met.
Emiliano saved in San Isidro de Mar del Plata and both campuses stayed in the same hotel. Between game and game, they became friends: “We would have breakfast together, we would play table football or ping pong, and when we had free time, our father would take us to the beach”expressed Muñoz in dialogue with infobae. But the budding friendship was put at stake when They had to meet in the final.
This is how Alejandro remembered the first duel he had with Emiliano: “They ran and scored a lot, we had the obligation to win because we were Independent. We were 1-1 and I scored the headed goal with which we beat them and came out champions. He makes a bit of a jerk when we remember that final. ‘Did you really score a goal on me?’ tells me. But after a while he agrees with me. So today I can say that I was one of the first to score against Dibu Martínez, ha”.
Pepé Santoro gave the OK for Emiliano, who had been rejected in Boca and River, to join the Inferior del Rojo. “Since we first met at the Independiente pension, we have not separated again. Everything we did, we did together”Munoz said. It was in the corridors of Villa Domínico that the nickname that the Aston Villa goalkeeper maintains was created: Due to its resemblance to the cartoon on television, Alejandro began to call it “Draw”. every time he referred to him and the goalkeeper couldn’t take it off anymore.
In addition to going to school together and living in the pension, their relationship grew stronger when Dibu suffered a broken foot, for which he had to use crutches for a month. His best friend helped him in everything he could: with food, with clothes, when going to the doctor: “I always tried to be there, without thinking about anything, just being”counted.
At 14 years old, Muñoz also suffered an injury, but much more serious: he did not play for a year due to a torn cruciate ligament in his knee.. Fortunately for him, he returned well and, like his best friend, he was summoned to the Argentina U-17 team. First they called 35, but then they cut to 22 to play the South American: Dibu entered, Ale did not. That was the tournament for which Arsenal took the goalkeeper from Independiente who became a star “He always said that he was going to be number 1. He was convinced that it would be like that”.
While Emiliano was taking his first steps in Europe, Alejandro continued his career at Red. At the age of Sixth, he was promoted to Reserve, where he sometimes went to the bank. Until a certain César Luis Menotti He saw it in a tournament in Venado Tuerto and it caught his attention so much that he recommended it: Muñoz was promoted to the First Division by Daniel Garnero at just 17 years old and signed his first contract in 2010. Although he was part of the South American champion squad under the command of Turco Mohamed, Alejandro only played in Reserve. Between party and party distance never kept friends away thanks to Facebookyears for which the social network exploded.
His visit to London and the talk with Arsene Wenger: “He told me that Dibu was going to be one of the best goalkeepers in history”
The friendship continued and Dibu was able to invite him to visit him in London. “When I saw him there for the first time, he was bigger, more armed, but he was the same. We went to the supermarket to buy and he was wearing flip flops and shorts. Neither he nor anyone in his family went up in smoke. That speaks very well of the person.”Alexander remembered.
On that initial tour of the Gunners’ training camp, he had an unforgettable chat with the historic French coach Arsene Wenger: “The Old Man (as he is called there) asked Emi if I was his friend and asked him to translate something for me. He told me in English that Emiliano was going to be one of the best goalkeepers in history. I had goosebumps, first because the Old Man was talking to me, and second because of what he had said about Emi. I could not believe it. He had him as a little son, and he couldn’t make him play because he had figures like Cech and Leno up front.”revealed.
Ale Muñoz lived all the achievements of Dibu Martínez up close
On a vacation after the World Cup in Russia, Alejandro revealed that “We were with his family and he told us ‘don’t worry, I’m going to tackle the next World Cup, because it can’t be that I’m not there’. He knew that he was going to reach the National Team with continuity. Once he started, don’t stop him anymore. And the click was when her daughter was born, that she couldn’t see her because she was in the Copa América. There he thought that he had to win it anyway. He said ‘I’m going to save three penalties’ and saved them. It was always like that, to say it and then do it”recounted.
In addition to supporting him in everything, Muñoz has also been an accomplice in some of his follies. “The night before the final with Brazil, he sent me a message to see if I was going to connect to play Call of Duty. We stayed playing until around 12:30 at night. It is key for him to be calm and not think about the game. There you laugh and have a good time. So far, online, but we had a great time. Someone who knows him knew that he needed to lower his anxiety levels. That helped him a lot.”revealed Alejandro, who had the luxury of speaking with Dibu by phone from the American champion’s locker room: “I was crying, I couldn’t speak. It was a great emotion because the dream that we had talked about since we were young had come true.”
The World Cup in Qatar suffered like all Argentines, but more for being so close to Dibu: “When he covered the last ball, in which my heart stopped, I thought that it was done, that we were champions”. And they got the same tattoo: “We said that if we were champions, we would get a tattoo that no other friends or family would have. Just the two of us. We did the World Cup and the phrase that he has posted on his Instagram and in his gym: ‘May passion lead you to glory’. He added the numbers of the boys with whom he had promised in the National Team (6 Pezzella, 8 Acuña, 12 Rulli and 18 Guido Rodríguez) and I still need his signature with the 23 in red”.
What happened to the football life of Alejandro Muñoz
At the age of 22, he found the football minutes he needed thanks to a loan to Alvarado de Mar del Platawhen he was a member of Federal A. However, In Independiente they decided to terminate his contract: he went free to Colegiales. There he had no luck either, since tore ligaments of the other knee, he had other problems in the same joint and was unemployed for a year.
His last steps in professional football were in Federal B with Jorge Newbery from San Luis and Atenas from Córdoba. “It’s complicated because at that age I expected to be playing. One thinks about going forward, but when I saw that the issue was complicated regarding the representatives, getting a club and Seeing that my family was breaking their backs to get me a test, I thought I’d go the other way. I no longer wanted that. So it was playing amateur football and starting to work”always explained in dialogue with infobae.
Today, Muñoz lives in Buenos Aires and works as an advisor at a renowned school for car drivers. Of course, it is still related to football: “I play in the Flower League, which is excellent, very competitive. I experience it as if he were playing in the Champions League final, because I am like that. I want to win and play well.”.
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