El Pulga Rodríguez, intimate: his mother barrabrava, the talk with his father before he died and the parable of La Gomera

Mariano verrina

07/21/2021 7:01 AM

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 07/21/2021 9:01 AM

Luis Miguel Rodríguez was already an idol of Atlético Tucumán and had already been summoned by Diego Maradona to the Argentine National Team when he found out that he had saved his mother's life.

He was only one year old.

It was a day of heavy rain.

Bety was determined and had asked a neighbor who knew how to write to help her leave a letter asking her husband Rubén and their older children, Karina and Walter, to take care of themselves and to take care of Miguel.

She got up determined, went straight to the power line that hung in the house.

He was already grabbing it.

They all slept.

Except for Miguel - that's what Bety calls the Flea - who walked behind her without her seeing him and tugged at her skirt.

“Someone will have put me there, in that place,” he thinks.

It is something strong.

What do I know, it must have been a baby instinct.

It will be that it was not his time.

Imagine that I was one year old, it was not conscious.

If one is big, it can get up because you saw it badly and you are attentive.

But a baby… ”.

The last return to Simoca was as champion and figure of Argentine soccer. As always, there was asado, empanadas, and pizza. There was also rice stew, the number one recipe from Bety's hands. As always, his brother-in-law put Coca Cola in his beer and, as always, he

went to the club to play the trick with the friends he calls retired

even though they are barely over 50. “They're made of shit, you have to see them, now. They all walk with a stent… Be careful, they have 55 but more nights than days. They are well lived. We play the trick because they can't play football anymore. "

El Pulga compares his love story with Paula whom Rodrigo portrayed in the song

“Ocho forty”

. On another scale, of course. Although she was not a billionaire or the highest level, she lived in the Capital, dressed in fashionable clothes and gave him what she had in her pocket to pay for their lunch and dinner. Luis Miguel, who is remembered as "a lineman", was terrified to do the 50 kilometers that separated Simoca from San Miguel de Tucumán.

“For me,

going to the Capital was going to a city where

nobody greets each other.

He was used to other kinds of things, which are normal in the villages.

They are the things that make you stay.

It has happened to many friends who played ball very well but preferred to continue in the comfort of the town.

Not that we have great job opportunities, but living with that relaxation is incomparable.

In the city you expose yourself, it is another world.

In the town you live with little but quiet ”, he defines.

El Pulga talks to Clarín at his new home in City Bell;

Paula, his youngest son Milo and his brother Alan look at him.

Photo: Mauricio Nievas

-In football you also left the comfort zone that was Tucumán.

-It was a challenge.

And I took it that way, in search of an achievement that Columbus had not achieved in more than 100 years.

I wanted to show that what I did in Tucumán I could do elsewhere.

And i did it.

Today the challenge in Gymnastics is similar.

-You lived the final minutes at the coronation of Columbus from the bench.

What was going through your head?

-They were endless, it is much worse to be outside than inside. At the beginning you are focused only on the game, on not being tied, on ending. Later, when we were able to liquidate it, there I was already thinking about other things.

In my reflection as a child

, having managed to become champion in almost all the competitions that I played: Liga Tucumana, Argentino A, B Nacional and now in First. The memory of my old man came to my mind, to whom I had asked all week to give me that joy. It was everything.

It was all summed up in 90 minutes.

And this in Colón remains for life. He may be a champion a thousand times more, but the first is the first. Whatever they say and tell it however they want, it is indelible, it is historical.

-Did your father's death make you notice in the hardest way that distance from your place of origin?

-We were concentrating to play at home against San Lorenzo and my brother called me to tell me: "Crazy, you have to come after the game because dad is sick, we don't know if he's going to spend the night."

I played and traveled to Tucumán on Sunday morning.

As soon as we landed, they called us to say that my dad had died.

I swear, as soon as we stepped, my sister-in-law called.

It was hard, because from there we went to Simoca, we buried him, we did everything we had to do… A month earlier I had gone to see him.

He was lucid, conscious, but he told me:

“Son, now you're leaving.

Go on, enjoy, play, this is the last time we see each other alive ”.

And I believed him.

Because the same thing had happened to him with an uncle whom he loved like a father.

It was the same, he said "come to the hospital tonight because I want to go holding your hand."

So it was.

-And then?

-I knew I had to come back to play, that I had to do it for him.

And I grabbed a bus and left.

Because there was no direct flight to Santa Fe. I came back alone, in the week we had to play the semifinals of the South American.

I left Tucumán at 7 in the afternoon and arrived by bus at 7 in the morning the next day.

If I stayed in Simoca, I wouldn't come back, I would definitely stay.

-Did you think about it?

-Yeah right.

It crossed my mind: "I call Colón, I rescind the contract and I stay here."

I tell you something:

my old man never liked that I left Tucumán.

And that day my mom wanted me to stay, she insisted.

But I would say to him: “What am I going to do here?

If you tell me I'm staying and dad comes in two months, I'll stay ”.

He was already bad, poor man, he was suffering.

He was left without doing what he liked the most, which was going out to ride a motorcycle around town.

He couldn't do it anymore and he was practically lifeless.

-How were those twelve hours on the bus?

- Endless.

Without shutting an eye, thinking.

It was a disgusting trip. 

Pedro Rubén Rodríguez,

Pocholo

, Pulga's father, the one who bought him his first boots at the town fair in exchange for 30 pesos and in exchange for not eating that day, he did not watch his son's games.

He would go out for a walk through the streets of Simoca.

He went to the court only once, the day Atlético Tucumán paid tribute to the idol for having reached 120 goals with that shirt.

“He would go out to the corner, he would stay talking with someone.

And then he would find out the result.

Now the one who walks is my brother, he is the one who follows the tradition, ”says the Gymnastics forward.

The most soccer player in the house is Bety.

And his passion does not require big stages. It is channeled in front of his house, in the Alto Verde club, the classic rival in the Tucuman League of Unión Simoca, where Walter (the oldest of the 9 brothers, the original Pulga) and Luis Miguel played as boys.

“You don't know how he bitched me.

It is a barrabrava.

Once we played a preseason friendly and we beat them 5-0.

At 2, 3 minutes I had already scored a goal and she from the stands would yell at me

'Son of a bitch, don't come home, you're not going to eat today'

.

I could not believe it.

I would go up to the fence and say,

'Stop, Gorda, I'm your son

.

'

It was like that, there was no case.

And now it's the same, she messes with the bar, down there where everyone is smoking, she rules.

When they go as a visitor, they don't want to go by car, they go with the group of fans ”.

-The mother of Pulga Rodríguez is a barrabrava in Simoca ...

-I swear. Once, I don't know where they were playing, he rode 40 kilometers on a motorcycle on a dirt road. It was about 8:30 at night, it was already half dark, and he was not coming back. What happened? When they were coming there was a checkpoint. And since they had no papers on the motorcycle, they turned aside, went into a field ... It fell full of dirt, with a white head. When he arrived he said

"sorry, son, but I wanted to go see Alto Verde

.

"

And on top of that he tells you about it as an achievement. And the worst was in a classic. They played in Unión Simoca and it was only for local audiences. I was already an Atlético player. We told her "Mom, don't ever go because they won't let you pass." What did? It was the same. And I wanted to enter. My brother, who was about to play, saw her from inside the court and couldn't believe it. The point is that

The Police began to repress

, she was in the middle of the mess and they re-shit her with sticks.

Simoca's toys and the Cup for Milo

At 36 years old, El Pulga came to Gymnastics with the same dream as Colón: to be champion.

Photo: Mauricio Nievas

-What things about being a footballer bother you?

-Football, nothing. The extra-football is what fucks. There are things with which I do not agree with the leaders. But what I want is the minimum respect for the players. Afterwards, football is very dynamic: one day you are the best and another day because you leave the club you are the worst. I try to enjoy. Because beyond being a footballer I have a family. I can't have them saying: "Che, don't go out to eat for a year." Or that the boys cannot walk, that they only go home from school. I enjoy it. For me the most beautiful thing is to listen to my two children when I take them to school, to see them angry or happy in the morning ... And so you also put your feet on the ground.

You are a soccer player but you are not on another planet.

That's why when they tell me "Che, what does it feel like when they ask you for photos?"

And I don't feel anything.

When I see someone who gets a tattoo of mine, I think they are crazy.

-And your children, how do you think they live that their father is a footballer?

-The other day the biggest one told me: "Dad, here you are not as famous as in Santa Fe. You take some photos, but there they lined up."

Well, I say "better, son, we can walk calmly."

Or he gets messy when he sees the photos of Messi and Maradona.

-How is that?

-He asks me "Dad, why aren't you there?" And then I explain to him that Maradona was the best in the world, I tell him everything he won, what he did. And now the best in the world is Messi. Then he comes back:

“But you are crack, dad. They have to take you to Messi, you also use the 10 and you are captain ”

. Look, son, next to them, no, nothing ... And the youngest one wants the Cup. When I got home after being champion with Colón, the first thing he asked me was where the Cup is. Of course, on TV he saw who had given it to me. And it was thought that he was bringing it to me. And that I want the Cup, that I want the Cup ... Now I ordered a replica to be made that is how the Cup has.

The talk comes and goes from Simoca. The bridge between that childhood with deficiencies contrasts with the upbringing of

Bautista

(6) and

Milo

(4). And there the head opens questions, jerks between the deserved pleasure and a senseless abundance.

"It's complicated," says the Flea. Now every two days they take out a new toy and they are expensive things. I often say no to them.

And they come and tell you yes, give it to him, you have money.

But you can't give them everything. She (for Paula, his wife) stands firm, but I'm a little softer for everything I've been through. In my case it was all that no, but it was not really, there was nothing (laughs). And on top of that my mother-in-law or my sister come to visit them and bring them gifts. I do not like that they just arrive, they go for the gifts. Say hello, at least. So before they come I grab them. “Listen, grandma is coming tomorrow. Do not start with the gift… they come to see you and be with you ”. The next day, they arrive: "hello, hello, how are you, the gift?"

Bautista, 6 years old, is the oldest, the one who saw his father cry over Maradona's death.

Photo: Mauricio Nievas

-What did you play with as a boy?

-My children recently asked me for my toys.

And I gave them a rubber band and some marbles.

But you don't know what happened: I gave the biggest one the rubber band and I didn't know what to do.

Then I told him that you have to put a stone and that

I would throw at the little birds.

So that!

He tells me: "Dad, that's animal abuse."

Well, son, don't shoot the birds.

Sure, I lived in the middle of the field.

With my friends we ate pigeons, partridges, whatever we found. 

-Did your eldest son see you cry for Maradona's death?

-Yes, I was alone in the room.

I turn on the television and it was a very strange blow.

I am not very demonstrative, if I am about to cry I try to leave, to think of something else.

But when the images of everything that Diego lived and the way he died appeared… They just went upstairs and he was crying.

He had never seen me cry.

And there he began to ask and well, I told him about the World Cup, about everything Diego was.

When I grow up I'm going to show him all the videos.

But right away it starts: "And you are better than Maradona?"

-When Gimnasia called you, did you immediately make the connection with Diego?

-Yes.

I had spoken when he was directing Diego but it did not happen because he had a contract in Colón and could not be rescinded.

Is special.

Because you talk to a prop and they tell you one thing, a colleague tells you another ... These are things that were recorded.

They lived the best and worst of Diego.

And you hear it from direct people, it is not that the media tell you.

He does not watch football or series, although he would dare to be an actor

Paula y el Pulga: he says that the love story is like the one Rodrigo sings in "Eight forty."

Photo: Mauricio Nievas

The combination of names has nothing to do with the Mexican singer.

It refers to two uncles, one from each side of the family tree.

Although the Flea does not shrink and says that, like the most famous Luis Miguel, he would accept a series about his life.

"Yes, I am encouraged to act, what a problem there is," he says.

And if not, I send my brother who is the same ”.

He doesn't want to be sure, but when he hangs up the booties he is sure to bow to politics.

He is affiliated with the Justicialista Party, has a close relationship with the Lieutenant Governor of Tucumán Osvaldo Jaldo and his sister Karina is a councilor in Simoca.

“For now I am channeling it through her. We are always helping. I don't like politics, I like to help. But I know it is a way of doing politics. Now, for example, we are helping some friends from the town who do not have a stable job and because of the pandemic they stopped doing the trades that fed them. They came to me for help. And I can't pay them a salary to stay at home. So we look for the return and they

are doing construction work in family houses

that have the materials but cannot pay for the labor. They go and take a bath, for example. And you know what it is for those people who spent a year to buy the materials, to have a decent and presentable bathroom… ”.

Bautista wants to play ball, but it's cold outside.

Milo comes and goes, already deserving, now he runs, asks for the father's cell phone and ends up settling with that of Alan, his uncle, the Flea's younger brother who has lived with them for several years.

Opening

Monopoly

and dealing the cards may be a good idea for photo production but it will be the gateway to fierce competition among the

Pulguitas

.

-Do you watch soccer?

-No, nothing.

But I'm not from TV in general.

I don't watch series, if we put on a movie, I start it and fall asleep.

I do not like it.

-Didn't you get hooked on the America's Cup or the Euro Cup?

For example a Germany-England at 4 in the afternoon ...

-Nooo, you're crazy.

At 4 pm less, I am sleeping.

I come home from training, we eat, we play a bit with the dwarfs and I take a nap around 3. I don't wake up because of a game or crazy.

-Does local football bore you?

Can you last 90 minutes?

-No, I can't stand it.

Unless it's the team I play for.

But not another.

-How long can you last?

-And let's say 20, 25 minutes.

With his new shirt and with Maradona in the background.

(Photo: GELP Press)

-Why did you choose Gymnastics?

-Because the challenge is very great.

We have the Argentine Cup in which we are three games away from playing a final.

Many say "why did he go to Gymnastics that he is going to fight relegation".

And when I went to Colón I was

also fighting for relegation.

And even so, in two and a half years we reached the final of the Sudamericana (NdR: lost to Independiente del Valle in 2019) and we were champions of the local tournament.

Everyone knows how the story begins but no one knows how it ends.

I see that we are going to fight with everything for the objective of being champion.

-Why do you feel that fans of all the clubs love you?

-I have no idea.

Luckily I never had a problem on the street.

The fans of the archrival ask for photos, it happened to me in Tucumán with those from San Martín or in Santa Fe with those from Unión.

It's weird, really, I'm not going to lie to you.

But I live it normally.

Some colleagues tell me "hey, you can't go out."

But, crazy.

How can you not get out?

If I go out to eat, I go to a shopping mall with my family and nobody says anything to me.

Obviously they can ask you for photos or a video, but it is not aggressive.

What does it cost me to do it?

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