El Beto Alonso: "I have nothing to envy Maradona, Messi, Cruyff, Pelé or Di Stéfano"

Maximiliano benozzi

08/13/2020 - 12:19

• Clarín.com
• sports

He won the Libertadores and Intercontinental cups that Diego Armando Maradona does not have. The World Cup that Lionel Messi is missing and that Johan Cruyff and Alfredo Di Stéfano missed. He made the goal that Pelé couldn't. "And what else? What else? So many more things ”, says Norberto El Beto Alonso with a laugh . And without hesitating for a moment he affirms that he is sitting at the same table as all those greats: “ I share the table with all of them. I have nothing to envy anyone. I was at the height of all those players ”.

-And what was the best of all?

-I am of the Brazilian style, the teacher Didí took me out. For me the best was Pelé , he was a monster. Although those who did not see it say otherwise. I was lucky enough to see Negro when he changed his shorts on the Boca court, which beat him 2 to 1 in the final of the Libertadores. He was playing with Coutinho, the fat man, and I saw him make a play on Negro, knocking over a wall on one side and going to get the ball on the other, he faced the Boca players and passed them as he wanted; an awesome thing. He has three World Cups on his back for a reason. And look, they beat him, uh ... They even left him out of a World Cup (England 66) from hitting him so much. It had all the conditions. He hit the ball phenomenally, jumped, hovered in the air, headed. They kicked him a lot. A player who made you happy with his football. And also, I repeat: he was three times world champion.

August is a special month for Beto . Not just for the memory of '75. Also because the 8 was 49 years of his official debut in the First River . And in the talk with Clarín, he chose, in chronological order, the 10 main milestones of his brilliant career.

Beto Alonso with the trophy cabinet in the hall of the Monumental. Photo: Mario Quinteros.

1-Play in River 

“I was playing a championship at Textil de Los Polvorines when a man named Carlos Palomino saw me. Right away he realized that he made a difference in the game and that he was the leader of the kids. I was 9 years old. He asked me my age and he didn't believe me. He asked me for the documents. And he said to my old man: 'Beto will not want - Beto was already treating me - to come to River without proof or anything. We wait for him tomorrow at 10 in the auxiliary court. It was in the year 63. And my old man took me. Of course, he did not want to save himself with me. He told me to keep studying. What I never asked him is if he wanted to have a gamer son, but I guess he did. And there I started in River. And when I reached the First Division and stood out in River, the chance of the National Team arrived. Defending the shirt of your country is another of the great things that can happen to you as a player ”.

2- When the teacher Didí called him to play in the First

"It was first in a friendly against Chaco For Ever in 1970. I remember that teacher Didí told Beto González, a journalist for River magazine: 'We're going to Chaco, you're going to see Pelé Blanco.' As he had played with Pelé in '58, that nickname appeared there. It wasn't because of the goal I made against Santoro. And then came the official debut in '71 against Atlanta at Villa Crespo. They kicked me out ... I started, I replaced Mono Más, who was injured, and I played with the 11 ".

The two Betos: Márcico and Alonso. And long live football ... Photo: Hernán Rojas.

3-Wear the shirt 10

" T-shirt 10 means that you are the leader of the team , whom your own player and the rival fan respect more. As long as you play well; otherwise, you cannot wear that shirt. I started wearing it shortly after my debut and no I played it longer. I liked playing 10 because I loved being in constant contact with the ball. "

They are ten. The Beto Alonso and Ricardo Bochini. And the ball, of course ... Photo: Andres D'Elia.

4-The goal that Pelé did not make

"That goal I did to Pepé Santoro in a River 7-Independiente 2, in '72. I threw it on one side and went to look for it on the other. It was the fifth goal. Dominichi hits a ball from the bottom and I I spike from the middle of the court. Independiente plays (sic) in the forward position and I meet Santoro: the two of them hand in hand. Then I fake him, the ball passes under his legs without touching it and continues on its way. Santoro stayed and when he wanted to react, he slapped me on the left, but it didn't come. I was very fast, the ball went through one side and I'm going the other, Santoro is left behind, I find the ball and push it into the empty goal . The shout from River's court was so deafening. I was deaf for a few minutes. I look at the rostrum and people clutched their heads because of what I had done. People kept talking about my goal in the street, in the bars, in the week ...  And now people are still talking about that goal that Pele couldn't make ".

River's team in 1972 led by Brazilian Didí. Photo: Clarín Archive.

5- The '75 championship

“The '75 title is above all because it all started there. My career started to grow from there. It was a special championship, beyond the anger for not having been able to play on the day of the consecration due to the strike . It was very strong to be part and lead the team that cut the title drought in River ”.

Beto Alonso in a tribute to the '78 World Cup champions. Photo: Marcelo Carroll.

6- Play in the National Team and be world champion

"Although I suffered a tear that took me out of the competition, I feel like world champion and I am one of the players who was world champion with the National Team. I played the first game and we won it. And the first game is as important as the final because if you don't win it can get complicated. Later, for me Menotti didn't behave well with me, but that's it, many years have passed. And with regard to the military, we were just champions in '78 beyond all. what was said. At that time no one was talking about the military. Now everyone talks because they are no longer there and they are repudiated by the entire people. "

The goal that Beto Alonso scored against Gatti with the head and the orange ball on the afternoon of August 6, 1986. Photo: Clarín Archive.

7-The goals to Boca, the orange ball and the Olympic return in the Bombonera

Beto Alonso celebrates his second goal in front of the River fans looking at the two upper trays in the Bombonera. Photo: Clarín Archive.

"Scoring goals against Boca is beautiful. I was born in River and I am anti-Boca. That afternoon of the orange ball was dreamed of. It was the afternoon that I gave the people of River who were full on the second and third layouts of the Bombonera. I didn't forget it any more. What I promised, I fulfilled. Despite the political pressures that we had in the week, we made the Olympic return. And then I scored two goals against Gatti, one with the orange ball and the other with the white one. and black. The game with Boca is the dream, it is the one that one waits when the fixture comes out and looks to see when the Superclásico will play. You are preparing yourself psychologically. I loved going to the Boca court to face them and beat them. "

River's Olympic return to the Bombonera in 1986. "What I promised, I fulfilled," said Beto. Photo: Clarín Archive.

8-The Copa Libertadores '86

"It was very special. I remember her with much affection, with much love. After so much searching ... That night we won it was exciting. We had a great team, a team of a different style, but a winner like the one in '75. You could sit in the gallery and you were calm because you knew that I was going to win. We beat them all. We won the final against America in Colombia, but the most difficult game was the second leg. Because you had to manage your anxiety. And we won it again with the goal of (Juan Gilberto) Funes. When the game ended, I wanted to hug everyone, I wanted to go to all the stands to hug all the fans, with the leaders, with everyone ... It was one of the happiest days I had in my sports career . That cup that we chased so much was finally at home. He was one of the leaders of that team and my teammates wanted me to be champion. I will always be grateful to them ”.

Beto Alonso and the 1986 Copa Libertadores. Photo: Clarín Archive.

9-The Intercontinental '86

"The game was tough. But we had a great team that had just won the Libertadores a month and a half ago. It was a hierarchical squad with world champions from '78 and from '86 with the National Team. We knew we had to be vigilant. Alzamendi , he was a rogue, he was. I hit him with a cheat and he came and scored the goal. Winning that game was like touching the sky with your hands. And there - in the dressing room of the Tokyo stadium - I realized that I had won everything, that I had done everything in football . Being world champion with River was something spectacular. And I wanted to retire with all the glory. "

10-The party of his farewell

Beto Alonso on leaving the Monumental on June 13, 1987, the day of his farewell, in front of 85 thousand River fans. "My legs were shaking," he said. Photo: Clarín Archive.

"With 85 thousand people at the Monumental, I was moved to tears. And today I am still moved. It was the only game in which my legs shook. And that afternoon of June 13 I came out last when the voice of the stadium, I start to walk with my head to all sides and I saw a full stadium, screaming ... My legs were shaking seriously. In the end, I took an Olympic lap and wanted to hug all the River fans. I will always be with them forever grateful to all of them. "

JCH.