Maximiliano benozzi
05/17/2021 12:17 PM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 05/17/2021 2:34 PM
There are stories that are from a movie in football.
And that of
Alan Leonardo Díaz
is already one of them.
The 21-year-old boy, who was the figure of River in the Superclásico, was unknown to the football world until a few hours ago.
But after his performance at the Bombonera, his name appears everywhere.
And with the passing of the minutes, new sequences of this youth's life emerge that are exciting.
One of them is that Díaz was analyzing the possibility of leaving River
. Is that if he did not do it, he was on his way to be free, being 21 years old and not having a professional contract. And also for being covered. In front of him are Franco Armani, Enrique Bologna, Germán Lux, Franco Petroli and Ezequiel Centurión (on loan from Estudiantes de Buenos Aires). Then, I saw the possibility of stopping in the First River very far away. However, it came unexpectedly. Was highlighted. He was the figure of Marcelo Gallardo's team and the leadership will make him sign the first contract.
Another thing that was said before the game is that Diaz could be scared by having to debut in the Bombonera and just in a direct elimination match against Boca.
And although the night before he lived with many nerves - how could he not have them, of course - he always maintained the confidence that things could turn out well for him.
No pressure.
This is how Díaz played in the Bombonera.
In any case,
there was no chance that Diaz would leave the Bombonera scared
.
How could a kid who knows blows and disappointments be afraid?
That at the age of 21 he still hadn't stopped even in Reserva and that in a couple of months he might be out of River, the place where he grew up.
Since he was seven years old, he has been in the Núñez club.
How could this kid be scared if he knows what it is to feel pressure.
Of those pressures that mark you.
As marked by that video that went viral in the last hours in which Díaz is under the three sticks of an arch prepared to stop a penalty, surrounded by hundreds of people.
The scene takes place in Ciudad Oculta, one of the largest settlements in the Federal Capital, located in Lugano.
And one of the spiciest, as they say in the neighborhood.
River's goalkeeper stops Cardona's penalty.
Photo: EFE
There he is prepared to stop a penalty.
And when the shot comes he throws himself to his left to stop the ball.
He has a diver from River.
And everyone runs to hug him.
He just won a tournament for silver and with the money raised he made his friends happy
.
With that story behind him, Díaz also went out to save at the Bombonera, where he saved three goal balls from Tevez and took the penalty from Cardona, after the Colombian bit the ball.
Díaz showed personality in the Bombonera.
The same one that he exhibited in Inferiores, where he also saved penalties and kicked them.
"He's crazy," they came to say when he saved almost a whole time with his scrotum torn apart after a shot from a rival striker in that area.
At halftime they had to remove him by ambulance.
After Sunday's Superclásico, the goalkeeper received congratulations from all sides. Not only those of River. Also, those of Boca. Even Carlos Tevez praised him. And when he arrived at his home in Lanús, after eating with his family and hugging his loved ones, only then did the adrenaline drop. Although it was difficult for him to sleep, of course. And during the early morning he took the opportunity to answer messages. Among them, that of this chronicler. He said he had read on the
Clarín
website
the note about his performance in the Bombonera and that he had liked it a lot.
Also, that he was shocked by what he had experienced this weekend.
He thanked the request for an interview but that it was not going to be because he had been asked not to speak.
It is logical.
It is part of River's communication policy, not to compromise the youth in the media, considering that they are not yet prepared for that level of exposure.
An express preparation
What Diaz was prepared for was to tackle at the Bombonera. And that he had not even saved a game in the Reserve. And to achieve this, he not only relied on the talks with his family, with Marcelo Gallardo and Primera's coaching staff, including the doctor in neuroscience Sandra Rossi, but also that he complemented those talks with
Karina Scomazzon
, a coach who works with him. focus on high athletic performance.
Scomazzon works with several athletes, including Rafael Borré and Franco Armani.
In fact, he also has ties to the company that represents River's starting goalkeeper.
And from Armani, the possibility arose of contacting Díaz with Scomazzon.
On Sunday morning, while they were both having breakfast, they had a virtual session that lasted about an hour.
And that the goalkeeper who later showed off in the Bombonera served him a lot.
For reasons of professional ethics, Scomazzon did not reveal details of the talk but he did tell
Clarín
where the spirit of dialogue turned. "We talked about it was a great opportunity. And that the opportunities are to be taken advantage of. Talent will not change you overnight. But how to be mentally prepared if it is going to go up or down. And the The fact that he was there was for something. I found myself with a very clear head, very professional in him, "Scomazzon said. And he added: "I was surprised by the experience, the clarity and the clear focus that he had and how he opened up to this space to consult. I felt that he was asking me the right questions. We moved in this of security, that the arch was yours , that the rival is respected and not underestimated but that the goal was going to be his and it deserved to believe that. And to show presence from the first moment ". He also revealed that "after the game I felt that a lot of what we had talked about was reflected on the court. "
Díaz could not finally become the hero of the film because the definition was for Boca. But River's goalkeeper was on everyone's lips. And the day after, more was said about his performance than about what the match and the qualification of Miguel Angel Russo's team left for the semifinals of the Professional League Cup.
And that the goalkeeper who generated empathy in his own and others had planned to leave in the middle of the year because there was no place. Now the first professional contract will come to you. After the 15 cases of coronavirus, with the four first goalkeepers infected, Díaz's life changed. And since that call on Saturday from Gallardo to warn him that he would be the headline against Boca, his phone and his social networks did not stop exploding messages. And they multiplied after the game. It is that he went from saving penalties in Ciudad Oculta to being the figure of River in the Bombonera.
