What we didn’t see about Daniel Passarella’s return to the Monumental: behind the scenes of his arrival and the reaction of fans

This Sunday was not one more for the fans of River Plate, who on their return to the Monument found their house practically completely renovated. The location of the most popular has been changed, three of the four new lower stands have been freed up and the public is now much closer to the action, fulfilling a demand from the people that has been going on for many years. The Antonio Vespucio Liberti has been renovated, meeting the standards of the world’s first stadiums and becoming the one with the largest capacity in South America.

Martin Demichelis’ team victory at Argentinian juniors; however, the focus was also on another person, one of those who knew how to be one of the most loved in the institution and who today has several detractors. After almost a decade (his last day was when he lost the election in 2013), Daniel Alberto Passarella back at River Plate as part of the tribute to the world champions in Qatar.

The Kaiser shone with the River Plate jersey (he won 7 local titles) then had an excellent career at Fiorentina. He is the only footballer to have won the World Cup twice (captain in 78 and was part of the squad in 86). After hanging up his crampons, he also stood out as a coach. In the Millionaire, he had two cycles and won three championships.

This helped him get elected president in a close election against Rodolfo D’Onofrio, who went on to serve a very successful term. However, Daniel Alberto’s handling in the leadership role was heavily questioned and led to the millionaire’s unexpected relegation to the second division of Argentine football.

At the end of his mandate, he never showed himself publicly inside the Monumental, until yesterday…

About an hour before the match, as the team managed by Martín Demichelis took to the field to carry out the pre-competitive movements, the group’s former center scorer returned to his old home. with a slingshot, product of arm injury, He entered a vehicle through the parking lot on Sáenz Valiente Street and then passed through the rings of the monument. These first meters, Daniel Alberto has done accompanied by his family, led by his son Lucas, who has been the link with the current management to coordinate the details of his stay in the tribute to the champions. With them was also a security guard.

“I don’t know how people are going to treat me, I came because they invited me,” was one of the concise answers the former Fiorentina gave when asked when he entered In the stadium.

Simultaneously, in the Sívori Baja and Baja Inferior and Centenario Baja and Baja Inferior, club fans raised Argentine flags with the legend “Thank you champions” and the millionaire, with the phrase “Cradle of Champions”.

Around 7:00 p.m., a video was shown on the stadium’s giant screen in honor of the players who passed through Núñez’s team and who sported the third star embroidered on the national team crest. Once completed, five men from the institution’s youth academy appeared on the stage – from afar, though still close to the club – to thank the people for their support on their journey through Arab lands: Guido Rodríguez, Germán Pezzella, Gonzalo Montiel, Julian Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez.

Then there was one of the first surprises of the afternoon: Sívori Alta some flags were displayed with gigantographies of several of the world champions kiss the gold cup or medal. The personalities present at the podium were Pablo Aimar (member of the technical staff), Franco Armani, Guido Rodríguez, Germán Pezzella, Enzo Fernández, Julián Álvarez, Exequiel Palacios and Gonzalo Montiel. In the center, captain Lionel Messi.

During the presentation of medals and plaques to Armani, Aimar and Roberto Ayala, the public honored the motto of River Plate “live and play with greatness”, since there were no chants or whistles against Daniel Passarella. From the four sides of the Antonio Vespucio Liberti first dropped the classic “Give it champion”, then ended with “this is the millionaire’s crazy group”. It should be noted that the image of the Kaiser, nor that of the rest of the winners (Negro Enrique, Pato Fillol, Beto Alonso and Cabezón Ruggeri also declared present) were displayed on the giant screen during the minutes that the event lasted. hard.

There was also a halftime party. As firefighters threw water to cool the public in the sweltering city heat, another moving video moved those in attendance. Accompanied by a play of lights, the screen showed footage of the start of construction of the River Plate house in 1936. He also reviewed the great exploits of the Monumental, its unbreakable bond with the Argentinian team, the iconic recitals and the transformation the stadium has undergone over the years.

Of course, the party ended up being complete thanks to the reaction of the team of Martín Demichellis (another who returned to the Monumental -now as a coach-) to turn the tide thanks to the goals from the penalty spot of the Colombian Miguel Borja and Esequiel Barco.

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