Maximiliano benozzi
07/11/2021 18:36
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 07/11/2021 6:36 PM
Gonzalo Montiel must have remembered this Sunday the moments in which he was waking through the corridors of the Monumental, along with other boys from the Inferiores, to meet a player from the Primera de River. At the door of his house, this time he was the star. And they were going to look for him to take an autograph or a photo. At the door of his house, in a closed neighborhood of Ezeiza, the neighbors were waiting for him to greet him and congratulate him on winning the Copa América with the Argentine National Team.
And there was Montiel, with the simplicity and humility of always.
Despite his fatigue, and that damaged right ankle (the game ended in blood), which was left with a scar, he stood up and greeted each of those neighbors who applauded him and looked at him with the same admiration with which he observed to the great River players, such as “Burrito” Ortega, admired by his grandfather Luis and to whom he owes his middle name, Ariel.
Gonzalo Montiel, along with Marisa and Tito, his parents.
Photo: Juan Manuel Foglia.
Montiel is no longer the baby of Marisa and Tito, his parents.
He had already grown up under the guidance of Marcelo Gallardo, who transformed him into a side of the National Team.
And he strengthened after this final with Brazil in the Copa América, which he arrived physically diminished by the coronavirus, in which he lost the place with Nahuel Molina and ended up recovering it in the previous one of the decisive match, in which he closed the right wing , he banked it against Neymar and ended up celebrating with Messi.
At the age of 24, Montiel was already champion at the Monumental, at the Bernabéu and at the Maracana.
Surely, reality has surpassed the dreams of that kid who ran over the land of a neighborhood in Virrey del Pino, the last town of the vast La Matanza district.
Gonzalo Montiel and the Copa Libertadores medal that he won with River in the final against Boca, on the streets of the neighborhood where he grew up, in Virrey del Pino.
Now, he added the medal of champion of America with the National Team.
Photo: Juan Manuel Foglia.
There he was raised in the bosom of a humble and hard-working family.
“My son gave us the house with his first wages.
He gave us the money so we can build it.
I am very proud of the career she is doing ", Marisa, Montiel's mother, told
Clarín
. She, like the whole family, is very excited." This title is different from the others because the whole country is behind and the National Team had not been crowned for a long time. ”That house they moved into was built by Tito, Gonzalo's father, a lifelong bricklayer.
The Montiel reunion took place this Sunday afternoon. Between hugs and tears of emotion. Besides Tito and Marisa, Gonzalo shares his days with his girlfriend. And there are also his older sister and his two nephews.
There is little time to share because since Monday Montiel joins the River bubble in Cardales (like Franco Armani and Julián Alvarez), given that on Wednesday Marcelo Gallardo's team plays against Argentinos the first leg of the eighth of final of the Copa Libertadores at the Monumental. But the family is used to it. Of course, they know that Gonzalo always uses his people when he has free time. As it happened after Madrid and the return after the Club World Cup, spending almost two weeks of vacation in the old house of his parents in Virrey del Pino, where he grew up and where he began to forge his dreams.
After the reunion, it will be time to distance ourselves again.
But you already know about those stories.
As when Montiel was barely 13 years old, they made a place for him in River's pension and he left his house so as not to have to travel more than two hours back and forth (he took two buses - 620 and 28 - which made a long drive) almost every day to train.
Montiel is no longer just Tito and Marisa's baby, although they will always see him that way.
He is already a man.
And champion of America.
With River and with the National Team.
And beyond the inevitable distances, after so much flying, Gonzalo always returns to the nest.
Now, with one more medal on his chest.