The sun rises from the side and with its rays illuminates the statue of Marcelo Gallardo. It is noon on Thursday, June 1 and since Saturday, May 27, the bronze mass of 8.10 meters high and almost 7 tons of weight stands uncovered facing Avenida Figueroa Alcorta, next to the entrance to the parking lot of the club and a few steps from the entrance to the Monumental, of the River Museum and the other great monument, that of Angel Labruna.
The statue of the Doll is behind a fence with fences and will be more protected when the glass screen that will go ahead is ready. Anyway, it is guarded 24 hours a day by private security agents of the club. A few meters away there is a street stall selling riverplatenses products that next week will have in stock the miniature statue. Its owner assures that many people have already asked about the mini doll.
On the sidewalk, wide, people walk quietly. Fans and members of River, and other clubs too, tourists and curious. Cyclists pass by the bike path. And the cars that circulate on the avenue slow down and brake. Everyone stops to look and contemplate the figure of the Doll. To take pictures and selfies. To shoot videos. As if they were observing Michelangelo's David.
"The statue of Gallardo is beautiful," says Ana María, from Mendoza, who is traveling with her cousins, who nod and add in a duet: "Why was so much mess made if the face is perfect and the lump is not so much?"
They refer to the repercussions generated by the statue and the controversy that arose around how the sculpture was in general, and in particular the crotch area. "Gallardo is a beautiful person and deserved this statue but I would say that they would have to fix it a little in the lower area," says María Cecilia, also from Mendoza.
Nidia and Ayelén, mother and daughter, who are from Paraná and are walking in Buenos Aires, think the same that although they highlight Gallardo's courage as a coach, they agree that "it is not to reflect it like that in the statue, it is exaggerated in the figure".
On the other hand, for Soledad, a 50-year-old kindergarten teacher from Villa Urquiza, who went especially to see the statue when she left the kindergarten where she works, the work of Mercedes Savall, the maker of the work, must be valued. "I have nothing but praise for the sculptor. The size, the arms, are being questioned, but we should not criticize so much. He did it from love, admiration for a being who gave everything for the club since childhood. They will always find a hair to the egg but you have to enjoy and come and take the picture. "
For his part, Daniel, from Carapachay, a 57-year-old River fan, clarifies that, above all, "Gallardo deserved the statue", but questioned the sculpture: "I would have liked the work to be more real. I see that the arms are out of context and well, what we all know, we should modify it because I do not think that the Doll has liked it very well. What he put when he had to put himself as River's coach can be resignified in another way, not this one."
The statue of Gallardo was inaugurated on Saturday 27, looks fenced and is scheduled to protect it with a glass. Photo Enrique García Medina.
In the same vein, Rodrigo, twenty-year-old from Parque Leloir, expressed himself. "I saw it on videos and now seeing it personally, it seems to me that it was not necessary. It would be good if it is modified because it does not go with the principles of the club, "he said, although he clarified: "I am still happy for the Doll, for everything he gave us, he is the best coach in the history of River and he deserved a statue. "
That statue whose idea was born on December 8, 2018, a day before the final of the Copa Libertadores against Boca in Madrid, and which began to be made after the epic triumph at the Bernabéu.
Precisely, at the foot of the monument, the rivalry that is lived in each point of the country, between two friends who are passing through the Monumental, is reissued, with great folkloric sense.
Carlos Trijo, manager of the statue; Jorge Brito, president of River; Marcelo Gallardo and Rodoldo D'Onofrio. The former president criticized the work and asked that it be corrected. Photo: EFE/ Diego Haliasz
"The monument to the doll is perfect, you don't have to change anything," says Dante, a missionary who took advantage of his stay in Buenos Aires to go to the Museum and see the statue.
"I'm a bostero and the truth is that the statue is good, it has what it needs to have," admits, resigned, Francisco, 59, who accompanied his friend.
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And look up, you have the Cup that we won for you," Dante says.
And a back and forth is put together between the two in pure chicane and with good vibes.
"Too Argentine everything," says Catalina, from Pilar, laughing and blushing, while watching the statue stunned.
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