Lucas Pratto, intimate: 'It bothers me that footballers do not commit; that played against me '

Maximiliano benozzi

07/30/2021 6:00 AM

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 07/30/2021 6:00 AM

Lucas Pratto went back to his roots to start over.

The wheel of the ball and of life turns and at the age of 33, the striker who made history in River has to start again.

But don't be discouraged.

And he's confident that the later years of his career will find him competing at the highest level.

While defining his future and continuing to recover from the serious injury (fracture of the right fibula and ligament detachment in the ankle of the same leg) he suffered in the Netherlands, playing for Feyenoord (in the classic against Ajax), from La Plata, where He spends his days with his wife, Luciana and his daughter Pía, the Bear spoke with

Clarín

.

-What hurt you the most: the injury or the abrupt end of that experience in Europe?

-A bit of everything.

What hurt me the most is that the game was already over and then I reproached myself for having gone to the floor to play for the ball.

But my essence is like that.

It is done.

But I was left with more pain from the injury than the fact that I was not going to be in Europe anymore.

-Did you not trust that you could continue in the Feyenoord?

It was a chance you had been waiting for ...

- A possibility came out that I had not had before, but I knew it was difficult because in a short time I had to prove a lot and when I arrived I found myself in a different situation than what I expected.

Because the coach who was there was leaving in the middle of the year, and the one who called me to hire me was the field assistant, and two weeks later he resigned to go to direct a boys' club in Holland.

It was a disorder that I did not expect, but it was an opportunity that I wanted to take advantage of and although it was different than what I expected, it was still beautiful.

-Did you make the decision to leave because it was Europe or because you played little in River?

-There were several things.

River also needed to unload the high salary that I had and it was a bit consensual with everyone.

Obviously it was an opportunity that he was not going to have again.

And the two things came together, the chance to play in Europe and that he was not having minutes in River.

If he had been playing more, maybe he would make another decision, I don't know now.

At that moment he caught me playing for a few minutes and I did not want to miss that opportunity that appeared to me.

Lucas Pratto, in one of his last games with the River shirt, against Nacional de Montevideo for the Copa Libertadores.

Photo: Juan Ignacio Roncoroni.

-Did you tell Gallardo right away?

-Yes, I communicated it to Marcelo and the next day I said goodbye to my teammates after the game with Arsenal.

-And how did he take it?

-He told me that he did not want me to leave, as had happened other times when I had offers to leave the club, but this time I told him that it was a sports decision and that River could not take charge of my salary.

And together with the leaders, we agreed that it was the best to decompress that situation.

-Have you made the decision to leave in other markets?

-Nerd.

I had had offers from Inter in Porto Alegre and Atlético Mineiro but I spoke with Marcelo (Gallardo) and we agreed that the best thing was to continue.

But this time it was the other way around, it was better to go out.

-You came as the most expensive purchase in history.

Did it weigh you down at first?

-When they called me to come, I told them that it would be difficult to get out of San Pablo but that if they arranged between them, there would be no problems with me.

In fact, I lowered the salary that I had in Brazil.

And then, obviously, with the pressure with which he was going to arrive and the fact that he had to comply, he was not going to charge little because he knew everything that involved playing in River and all the pressure that people were going to deposit. In Myself.

The reality is that I did not weigh that.

River had not started well, had just won the Argentine Cup, but had been eliminated in the semifinals with Lanús.

And after the Super Cup final with Boca, in Mendoza, everything changed.

-What is Gallardo like?

-He is a very direct, very serious guy, who says what he feels and as a coach he is one of the few in modern football who can express what he thinks on the pitch.

He likes that his players are aggressive, that they are intense, sometimes he puts aside good football a bit to prioritize aggressiveness and intensity because he knows that this can give the team a peace of mind so that later it can develop with the quality of players that you have and that you know that they will make a difference.

-Is he the best technician you ever had?

-I had great coaches, like Ricardo Gareca for example, but as a coach and strategist, Marcelo (Gallardo) is the best I had.

In this modern football he also plays that, who is younger out there than Ricardo (Gareca), who is very good too, who adapted very well to the modern but has the old school.

-You said that your relationship with Gallardo ended in five points.

Either you are very sincere or you are the only one who did not leave in the best way with him ...

- I do not know if my ex companions have had some conflict.

I am sincere, very frontal, I was always the same and sometimes happiness and sadness, or anger, did not hide them.

With Marcelo I said five points because since I left I did not speak and I would have liked him to call me about my injury and that did not happen.

But the relationship was always good, I left on good terms, in fact, we gave each other a hug and all the things that have happened between him and me, we both know that they were resolved well.

-Would you sit down to have coffee with him now?

-Yes, I have a good relationship with him, strong, special and I am grateful for everything he did to bring me and for everything he taught me in these years.

Marcelo Gallardo with Lucas Pratto, a relationship that cooled and the scorer qualified with 5 points.

Photo Marcelo Carroll.

-Do you feel that being so frontal plays against you?

-Yes, the reality is that many times I talk about this with my inner circle, that being very frontal and not banking on some things from a football club causes problems for you.

And I say it in general ... That's where I get to help a utility worker, a kinesiologist, a security specialist, someone who works inside the club and many times they tell me that I don't have to, but I think the player Soccer has the power to do everything within soccer because without the soccer player, everything else would not exist.

So it bothers me that some players don't commit.

And committing myself, most of the time, has played against me.

-What things did you help in and they told you not to get involved?

-In that someone needs to collect, or a help or a prize.

The truth is that in the clubs I've been to, the players who were my teammates have helped, because sometimes the people inside the club trust you with things.

Or that they are behind in their salaries or that they pay him two pesos to be from 8 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon at the club.

The reality is that the player is from 8 in the morning until 1 and you have the props or security people who work from 7 in the morning until 5 or 6 in the afternoon.

-And where did the “you don't get involved” come from?

-Generally from the leaders or people who are in the club, but sometimes also from some colleagues who tell you that this exceeds us.

Soccer is like that, people are like that, actually.

But I think that there are ranks that can build strength and the players in a club can build strength, so in the future I think that the players should come together more for a better football.

-Is there a specific example that you can tell?

-No, I don't remember now, those things I try to block.

Thank God in River it did not happen to me, we were always all ready.

And both D'Onofrio and Francescoli, who are the heads, are good leaders who were always close and provided solutions to the problems we have had in these years in which I had to be.

Lucas Pratto poses with his dog Donna.

It hurt the Bear that Marcelo Gallado did not call him after the injury he suffered in the Netherlands.

-Do you see yourself in the future in the footballers' guild or in any sector so that the players are united and committed?

-I don't know, because sometimes I'm so frontal that there are people who because they have more money than you or have a heavier name than you think they are more important and I think that people are all the same.

So it would be very difficult to tell you I want to be in the guild or in a structure of that type because first I would have to talk to the people in charge to see if we are on the same path.

-And where do you think that commitment comes from?

-Maybe because of how I grew up, that I always had people who helped me when I had nothing and did it without expecting something in return.

And I also had people around who ask you for things because later they ask you for a favor.

As you get older you see which way to go and I always chose to help without asking for anything in return so that the person who works with me is just as happy working as me.

-Who helped you?

-My family, my friends, my old woman, my brother, now my manager when I grow up.

I had people along the way who have helped me a lot to revalidate who I am.

And if I continue to have problems because of how I am, I would rather have them than be false or keep quiet about some things that do not seem right to me.

-Is the world of football fake?

-I do not know if football is like that, it is in general the issue.

People sometimes step on heads, it is generic, it is society, it is not just football.

In football out there everything is exacerbated, but the reality is that there are also very good and spectacular people in football who want the good for everyone.

Soccer is very passionate and it handles so much money that people get confused or lost.

-How do you imagine the last years of your career?

-Competing at the highest level and trying to keep winning things like I always did in my career.

Pratto is recovering favorably from the injury he suffered playing for Feyenoord.

Meanwhile he defines his future: Vélez and Atlético Mineiro play, two clubs where he has already played and left a great memory.

Photo: EFE / EPA / PIETER STAM DE JONGE.

The passion for the Copa Libertadores

Lucas Pratto came to River with a clear objective: to win the Copa Libertadores.

What he had not been able to achieve with Vélez, Universidad Católica de Chile, Atlético Mineiro and San Pablo, he did with Marcelo Gallardo's team.

And the Cup was forever tattooed on him.

-Is the passion generated by the Copa Libertadores very great?

-Yes, that's the way it is in South American football.

In South America we are like that.

That is perhaps why so many problems are generated with the VAR.

When the VAR arrived, those things could happen, the truth is that there is a very big gray with this technology that even ruins human error.

- Is VAR useless for you?

-For some things, yes, but for others it complicates them.

An offside by half foot or by one knee is tricky.

He takes out of this game the essence of the one who makes a mistake loses.

In rude things it could be revised, but in details not.

-Did you understand the reaction of the Boca players in Brazil?

-On the court yes, it is understandable.

Outside I don't know what happened.

Luckily I never had such a situation on the pitch, but I am not a fan of the pitched battle.

I am in favor of the fact that you beat the rival by making one more goal and the protests end on the field.

I'm not going to see who is spicier fighting.

-Would the same thing have happened to River in a situation like this or not?

-The River working group knows that there can be injustices and mistakes.

I don't know what happened in the hall with the Boca players, which made them go crazy.

Nor do I know how we would have reacted in River if they told us something in the hall.

Yes, I can say that River is aware that these things can happen, but it is difficult to say how River's team would react in a situation like this.

-Is there an exacerbation of victory and defeat?

-Yes, what happens is that River and Boca have long been used to fighting for the cups.

Although Boca has not won it for a long time, he has played finals and has been in final instances.

So, if you don't make it to the final, it seems like it doesn't work and if you reach a semifinal against a team that has more figures than you and more economic power and it beats you, it doesn't work either.

But it is part of the idiosyncrasy of Argentine football that always wants to win and sometimes we players like that.

We have to take charge, we are used to living it that way.

-And how did you manage to withstand the preview of a Copa Libertadores final against Boca?

-In that moment I remember that we got into Cardales for a few days and we were isolated from everything and we didn't feel it so much.

But then obviously the pressure when you're on the pitch is tremendous.

You don't want to lose there because if you lost you would have a weight left for life.

And we were lucky to do things well to win.

-And the moment of going out to the Boca court and looking defiantly was it to mark presence?

Was it spoken?

-Both Enzo (Pérez) and Pity were to do those things.

To talk to each other and say let's look challenging, but then we had to concentrate and propose the game that the coach had told us about this week.

And we had a team very focused on that and after having won a semifinal like we won against Gremio, it helped us to know that we could get out of any critical situation.

-Did you notice the silence you caused with your goal in the Bombonera?

-I didn't realize it at the time of the silence of the stadium, because everything happened very quickly.

When we got out of the middle, the Pity, who never went forward after a middle kick, that day went forward and there was no time to think.

I see Magallán who pulls the bilge forward and leaves me the gap, I throw the diagonal to go find the pass and then I define.

It was half of a movie.

We tied it quickly and it was a mental goal that helped us.

And at halftime in Madrid?

Were they really calm as they said?

-We entered the locker room and we were hot because we had not been able to make the game plan that we had planned. And both Enzo (Pérez) and I told the boys that we had to keep trying and keep looking in the same way. Marcelo was not in the locker room because he was suspended and Matías had not come to speak with us yet because they always allow us between five and seven minutes to lower our adrenaline. And at that moment we said: "Guys, we turned a semifinal against the last champion in 15 minutes, this match can also turn around, we don't have to despair." And we had a second half two million times better than the first. Physically and footballingly we go through them and in overtime the same.

-Was Juanfer's goal the most important in history or yours?

Without yours there would have been no overtime and they would have lost the Cup ...

-All the goals in the final were important.

The two from the Bombonera because we kept the series in a game, and the one with the tie and the other two in Madrid the same.

Each goal played an important part in achieving a historic achievement that we will never forget.

Definitions of its passage through River 

-If I ask you what was the best moment in River, are you going to tell me Madrid, but from your football level, which one? 

-Between the end of 2018 with the final in Madrid and the first half of 2019 until we win the Recopa.

-A disappointment?

-The final with Flamengo.

-You took care of your mistake at that time.

Do you still think that Flamengo's comeback was due to that?

-Start with me, yes.

And the truth is that I try not to talk about it anymore.

THE ERROR OF PRATTO THAT ENDED IN THE TIE OF THE FLAMENGO # 90MinutosFOX |

El Mengao took advantage of the loss of the ball by the River forward.

pic.twitter.com/4l26ZVV4jm

- ESPN Argentina (@ESPNArgentina) November 23, 2019

-How was that wardrobe?

-The saddest thing I ever lived, but more than anything because we lost that final in three minutes.

For there, if they had surpassed us in 90 minutes it was different but losing it in those final minutes being superior to your rival gave a fury, but people recognized us the same.

And I remember that my colleagues at the hotel came to emphasize what happened last year and let me know that it was important to them.

-Did you fall after that final?

-No, I supported myself but I did not have the opportunities that I thought I deserved but they are football things.

-Did you feel that you were there for more?

-Yes, I felt that it was and I trained myself to be better and better but I also needed continuity.

I am a player who needs four or five games in a row to be well so that my physique gets used to the demands.

-What was the most important goal?

-The one in La Bombonera because of the psychological.

-And the most beautiful goal?

-The two of the final of the Libertadores and the one of the Recopa.

-The goal that you would have liked to do?

-Against Defense and Justice in the Monumental.

I entered the last 20 minutes and Juanfer left me hand in hand on my side, and I don't see Unsain leave and I define with him on top.

I would have liked to score that goal because it would have been worth a championship since we tied that game and then we tied with Atlético Tucumán and lost it.

UNSAÍN BECOMES A FIGURE # SuperligaxFOX |

In #AnguloFOX we show you the new save of the Defense and Justice goalkeeper before Pratto's definition.

pic.twitter.com/wmJ9linfKh

- ESPN Argentina (@ESPNArgentina) March 1, 2020

-In Tucumán, what happened?

-We had a great first half, we went 1-1 with a referee error that badly annulled a goal and then the second half cost us a lot, we tied a game that cost us a championship.

-If there was VAR ...

-But I prefer those referee errors before technology, as long as they are honest and not treacherous errors.

-In addition to a badly disallowed goal, there were two uncollected penalties ... 

-And yes well, that's how it is.

It is to appeal to honesty since the errors were human.

-And what do you think?

-Loustau was the referee, right?

-Yes

-Loustau es un árbitro que por lo menos a mí me ha dirigido casi siempre bien, es un árbitro que da garantías, entonces es difícil desconfiar de él.

-¿Y del asistente?

-Uno era Juampi Belatti, que lo conozco y no tengo nada para decir de él y el otro no me acuerdo…

-Gabriel Chade

-Chade, sí. Bueno a Chade no le registro la cara ahora, pero era la terna mejorcita que había.

-¿Con quienes te entendiste mejor en la cancha?

Con Juanfer (Quintero), Nacho (Fernández), Suárez, Borré.

-¿Lo va a extrañar River a Borré o con Romero puede estar tranquilo?

-Me encanta Romero, es un gran jugador y creo que le va a ir muy bien. Por ahí no es tan de área, es para jugar más suelto y es espectacular. A Rafa igual se lo va a extrañar porque es el goleador del ciclo de Marcelo y te generaba entre cinco y seis situaciones de gol por partido. Rafa es uno de los mejores delanteros que tuvo River y Braian va a ser un gran trabajo en el club.

Mirá también

Marcelo Gallardo, feliz por el nivel de River ante Lanús pidió calma: “Llevamos cuatro partidos recién”

La molestia física de Matías Suárez, la nota negativa en la goleada de River ante Lanús