He was shot before making his debut in the First Division, he was blinded and football saved him: “I wanted to throw in the towel” :: Olé

There is a date that Alexis Salinas does not forget. He doesn’t forget her because he can’t, but he doesn’t want to either. He doesn’t even try. You know that, since November 2, 2019, nothing was ever like before. “I suffered an accident, a tragedy,” he says about the violent episode of which he was a victim in the Villegas de Laferrere neighborhood, when a bullet fired from a car hit him in the face. “I lost my left eye because the optic nerve was cut and the entire retina broke in my right eye. Now I am totally blind. For five years I have been living a new life, a new opportunity,” he tells Ole.

Alexis’ career began following dad Fabián and he settled in the Argentinos Juniors Inferiores, where he learned “technique and values.” He was about six years old when he made his first passes and six more when he arrived at the La Paternal club. His qualities as a central defender began to be seen to the point that, in July 2015, he received a call to join the Primera preseason. There appeared the first obstacle: injuries. A series of physical problems prohibited him from appearing and in 2018 he left for Arsenal with the signing in his possession.

A year and a half in Sarandí adding minutes in the Reserve awakened the dream of debut again, the same one that went out on the coldest spring night of the 27 that he lived. “Everything was very sad. The environment was all destroyed: family, friends… And I personally was devastated. I honestly didn’t want to know anything more. I had no hope. I had no faith. I was very negative and I wanted to throw in the towel“he confesses.

-What motivated you to continue?

-My family was there supporting me, my parents, my son, my friends and many people from outside who know me and gave me their message of support, encouragement, and strength. I am very grateful, because that helped me and today I want to continue to return all that affection. I still hope to play football. Football, for me, today is called football for the blind.

-Was it football that saved you?

-Yes, he gave me a hand to get up again. Not only me, but my entire family, the entire neighborhood… By giving me a hand, I think it gave a kind of happiness to everyone who helped me. Soccer changed my life. From the beginning it took me out of the neighborhood and taught me to share, to bond with other people. It also gave me a lot of desire to be someone today, to want to succeed and still want to be a soccer player. Football is life, it is passion, it is health… It is the most beautiful thing that exists.

In 2020, after a frustrated attempt in February to save a part of the retina of his right eye with surgery, the Tank regained hope. A call from Martín Demonte, then a member of the Argentine blind soccer team, allowed him to reconcile with the memory of a life linked to soccer, which he had left aside. after the diagnosis was confirmed.

-How was that adaptation?

-It was difficult for me, because it is a very different football. I had to get used to playing without seeing and learn to play a different football, but I was able to adapt. There was a lot of progress from 2020 to today, and I was already able to be part of some national teams. Now I’m on River’s blind soccer team. I was at Los Murciélagos until last year, when there was a change of coach and they didn’t call me up, I don’t know why. It is strange to be there, because the boys gave me a lot of lessons.

-Do you feel that there was a drop in your level that explains your absence from the call for the Paralympics?

–It played very against my head. He was at a good level with the coaching staff they brought out at the end of the year. There is mismanagement by the leadership, threats to take away the kids’ scholarships… Very little seriousness. The Bats put a lot of effort into it, but they don’t treat them like professionals and they deserve it for the sacrifice they make. There is a lot of talent, a lot of potential, but on the part of the people who have to be there to manage there is very little desire to help them.

-Despite this panorama, they returned from Paris 2024 with a medal. Is that why you mentioned that they didn’t reach gold?

-If Los Murciélagos reached that stage it was because of the desire of the players. There were many inmates from December to August when the Games were held: they had to release a statement to be able to get to Paris in a better way and I think that because of that change they were able to reach the silver medal. I think for the gold one there has to be joint workfrom the people who manage it to the players who then have to be on the field and bring a result. There is very little knowledge about football for the blind. It would be very good if there were people who could help and give that push that Los Murciélagos need.

The days waiting for a call that never came forced Alexis to think about refocusing her life. He embraced the love of his family, of his son Yuthiel (9), he stopped having contact with the boys who were by his side on the day of the misfortune – except “with one of them, a very dear friend” – and chose to resume the study. “I had a lot of free time and I wanted to do something. Since I hadn’t finished secondary school, I started thinking about that to look for another way out.. So I leaned on the study,” he says.

-Honestly, not very well, ha. It never went well for me, my thing was the ball. But I am trying to adapt to a regular school, which is not adapted to disability. They wanted to learn from me, and they gave me that little push to be able to be there as one more. I am grateful.

-Today, in another stage of your life and with another mentality, would you say something to that 22-year-old Alexis?

-Yeah, pay close attention to the professionals. Every time I went to Argentinos they gave me a lot of advice. One was the invisible training: they told me to take care of myself, because I was not the same as the kids in the neighborhood and I could have a different future. Sometimes I think that humility played against me. I was always from a suburban neighborhood and I was in places where a soccer player was not seen much. I would tell him to be there as little as possible and give priority to his family, who is going to be there. But, above all, have patience because good things come.