Julián Malatini
was on everyone's lips when his withdrawal from the South American Under 23 Olympic Qualifiers was confirmed in the middle of this month, news that shook the AFA hard.
This was because, days before the start of the contest,
Defensa y Justicia, his former club,
reached a sale agreement with Werder Bremen
, a team that did not transfer him to the tournament that will deliver two places for Paris 2024. In fact, the German team made him debut this weekend in the duel against Freiburg and, in his presentation with his new shirt,
the defender made his debut with a goal
.
The native of Córdoba has never stood out for his offensive ability.
In fact,
he barely scored a goal in 43 games with Talleres and did not score in his 41-game stint with Halcón
.
However, things were different for him in Germany, as he only needed two minutes to get his first win in European football.
With Werder Bremen leading 2-1 with one minute left in the match, coach Ole Werner decided to send Malatini onto the field in order to sustain the result.
And far from staying in the background,
two minutes later the Argentine went to look for a long pass and, after a back pass that fell short, the defender eluded the goalkeeper and sent the ball to save
.
After the play, the Argentine hugged
Rafael Santos Borré
, who had also entered the field a few minutes before, and received the hug and congratulations of all his teammates.
Without a doubt, a debut to remember
.
Malatini's celebration.
(AP)
Malatini's goal on his debut in Germany
MALATINI'S FIRST GOAL IN #BUNDESLIGA!
The Argentine defender took advantage of the gift from the Freiburg defense and scored the 3-1 victory for Werder Bremen.
📺 #ESPNenStarPlus pic.twitter.com/mTeGEzrfCV
— SportsCenter (@SC_ESPN) January 27, 2024
Malatini's controversial withdrawal from the Pre-Olympic
In mid-January, Defensa y Justicia reached an agreement to sell 100% of Julián Malatini's transfer to Werder Bremen.
It was one of the good sales of Argentine football in this transfer market.
However,
the forms caused a scandal and strong anger in AFA
.
According to the soccer headquarters in a statement, the player stopped showing up for training and the Halcón never informed the AFA authorities.
The AFA statement that told of Malatini's situation.
Photo: AFA
This is how they attacked the team that was preparing for the Pre-Olympic.
It turns out that Malatini had already been signed up to play the tournament with the Under 23s, Werder Bremen did not give him up and thus there was no possibility of registering a replacement since it is not in the regulations.
In this way, Argentina appeared to play the tournament with one less player (22)
.