The goal cry, facing the crowd of Boca fans, pointing to the number 9 was not an unknown movie for
Darío Benedetto
, key with his goals to give the club another Olympic return and also to reposition himself after having played alone two meetings in the last 4 months.
A rebirth.
Other.
Although this time not only from the sporting level but also moving away from an
overexposure
that he acquired after imposing a leadership role on himself that brought him more problems than solutions.
"I don't want to jump anymore because they're going to grab me. Little by little I'm learning to cope with that with the referees and I'm going to try to make it that way," he said
after scoring three goals in the Super Cup against Patronato.
It is that his absence from the fields had to do with that gesture hinting at a payment in the final against Racing in which Boca finished with less than 7 men.
But it is a voice that knows that he has to modify his profile at least at certain times.
Because they have taken more energy from him than usual for a footballer who returned from Europe to be a starter, figure and also
win titles: he has 3 since he returned, with 19 goals in 43 games played
.
At the football level, he always ended up imposing himself.
That it took him time to adapt when he arrived at the club back in 2016 (for the series against Independiente del Valle) is a well-known story.
Also that once he gained confidence and ownership, he did not let go.
Until the injuries gave rise to a dispute with Walter Bou, who had marked San Lorenzo, River and Racing continuously.
The debate installed in January of that 2017 lasted for months: should the 9 of Boca be Benedetto or Bou?
The answer came on the first day.
Barros Schelotto gave the Arsenal-born forward a start and he replied with 2 goals to defeat Banfield.
End of discussion.
He was a scorer for Boca overwhelming in 2017 to the point of reaching Jorge Sampaoli's National Team.
And a ligament injury took him off the field (and his level) for half a year.
He came back with everything: 5 goals between the semifinal and final of the Copa Libertadores.
He didn't make it, but he still stayed at the club for another 6 months, until
Marseille bought his card for 14 million dollars
.
And there the doubts to know when and how he would return himself.
It was Riquelme who thought of him
.
And with a call they resolved his return, in January 2022. And there the debate again, because Luis Vázquez had earned a place by force of goals at Boca de Battaglia.
It lasted one game: a goal against Colón, in La Boca, on his return to Argentine soccer.
Once again he made it clear who would be the starter.
But then he acquired a facet of captaincy that was not comfortable for him, with episodes with Almendra
, a prize dispute and a fight with Zambrano in the Cilindro de Avellaneda.
In the midst of all this, the series with Corinthians that had him at the center of the scene with missed penalties.
A detail that left the final won in Santiago del Estero: in the photo of the champion Boca, Pipa ran from the area of captains who had to
Javi García, Marcos Rojo, Pol Fernández and Frank Fabra
to their most representative faces.
The end of 2022 had him with injuries that substituted between Vázquez and the boy Gonzalo Morales and that final against Racing loaded with expulsions, fights and complaints.
There was also a talk with Hugo Ibarra and with the Football Council
, assuming mistakes and aware that Miguel Merentiel came from Palmeiras not only to be a substitute but to dispute a place in the starting eleven in the daily competition.
The goal of the former Defense and Justice against Platense opened a doubt.
The good level against Vélez confirmed that now there would be someone fighting for that place.
What did Ibarra do?
He gave Benedetto a chance in a final.
And he scored three goals, to keep the ball, with the Olympic return (his 6th title for him in Boca) and also with a final hug in the privacy of the locker room with Juan Román
Riquelme
.
It is that Benedetto did not leave.
But he always keeps coming back.