Ricardo Gareca opened up and spoke about Carlos Zambrano’s temperament on the pitch

Ricardo Gareca He is one of the most important technicians who had the Peruvian team throughout its history. And it is that he managed to bring it back to a World Cup after 36 years (in Russia 2018) and, among other achievements, he cultivated the competitive gene in players to face any team. For now, he is free after failing to reach an agreement to renew with the ‘bicolor’ in mid-2022, but it is still an authorized voice to nominate domestic footballers. In this sense, the Argentine coach spoke of the temperament of Carlos Zambrano on the playing field.

It’s in an interview for ESPN Argentinain which he was consulted for the first time about Juan Román Riquelme, vice-president of Boca Juniors, and with whom he had a conversation about the ‘Kaiser’ before this box arrives ‘xeneize’ at the beginning of 2020.

“I had a conversation with Riquelme on the phone, because he called me before hiring Zambrano to ask me about him. It was the first time we spoke to each other and I really liked it. A totally different man from what you might think he looks like in a journalistic note. He was very polite, eager to learn, to ask questions, he was intrigued by everything, very respectful”, were his first words in the show. F-Team.

In this, Ricardo Gareca highlighted the virtues of Carlos Zambrano, but he hinted at a reason that would have been crucial for his name being constantly in the eye of the storm. “Zambrano has all the conditions. Later, playing Boca requires intelligence. Apart from football conditions, he must be smart because he is not just anywhere, but in a big team. even sometimes intelligence is more important than athletic qualities“, he expressed.

“The footballer must decide and it’s difficult on the pitch. The Boca player must avoid being sent off, if he gets into a conflict he must know how to stop, footballingly he must have an important personality”, a- he added.

But that was not all, since the ‘Tiger’ He highlighted a factor in which he has constantly influenced Alianza Lima’s current defense. “Zambrano has it (intelligence), it’s not that he doesn’t have it. It’s a subject I discussed with him when he was the coach of the national team (of Peru). I pointed it out to him because he is very capricious,” he says after having had him for several years in the ‘Red and white’.

And to draw a comparison, the 65-year-old strategist compared the footballing nature of Carlos Zambrano with that of his lifelong friend, Oscar Ruggeri. “(Ruggeri) all his life he was capricious, but when he had to stop, he had to. Only once I didn’t see him stop in his whole sporting career and that’s at that time he had problems with Chilavert,” he said.

the step of Carlos Zambrano For Boca Juniors It was marked by ups and downs. Not so much in performance issues, but related to his personality. When 2020 came to casting ‘blue and gold’ He made mistakes typical of a player who has adapted to the dizzying Argentinian football. However, he managed to accommodate himself, without however settling in the starting XI, until Sebastián Battaglia in 2022 opted for him with more conviction.

Even though he was under the command of Hugo Ibarra when he enjoyed the greatest opportunities. In itself, he always had, since in the end there was someone injured at the back and / or a player from the left club, but his controversial way of defending (arms raised) earned him to be constantly reprimanded and criticized. In addition, he had a conflict with Darío Benedetto which generated various comments against him.

Eventually, the tough defender left the Argentinian club after falling out with Ibarra and signed for Alianza Lima. In any case, he was able to win five titles and participate in 62 games, during which he scored two goals and provided two assists.