He feels uncomfortable with the nickname "Maravilla", but without a doubt Adrián Martínez
's first games
with the
Racing
shirt could be classified that way.
The forward, who joined Gustavo Costas
' team
after his good performance at Instituto de Córdoba, was one of the figures of Avellaneda's classic and scored
six goals in his last four games.
However, their story is not that of those who had the path paved.
Quite the opposite.
He debuted at the age of 22 in
Defensores Unidos de Zárate,
in the fourth division of Argentine soccer, after being imprisoned for seven months after being falsely accused of burning the house of those who shot his brother.
In dialogue with "A good moment", a La Red
radio program
, one of the scorers of the
League Cup
(he shares the leadership with Miguel Borja, both with six goals) told part of what he had to suffer behind bars and his story is shocking.
“I was only in a police station for one day and then I went to Penitentiary Unit No. 21 in Campana.
When I arrived, I was one more.
They want to rob you, they want to stab you.
It's like that.
I went with my old man and a kid I didn't know in a little transport truck and they stabbed that kid like ten times as soon as we arrived.
I zafé”, he detailed in a crude testimony.
"Maravilla":
For this goal by Adrián Martínez so that Racing beats Independiente in the Clásico de Avellaneda by 1-0.pic.twitter.com/4fq6JFo4tk
— Trends in Argentina (@becauseTTarg) February 24, 2024
Before being arrested, football was reserved for the weekends, since the rest of the days he had gotten a job as a garbage collector.
Then, when he suffered a car accident that cut several blood vessels in his hand, he had to settle for some
masonry jobs
.
However, during his time in prison the football bug bit him again.
"The promise I made to God was that if he let me play football I would forgive those who falsely accused me. I
never tried them for false testimony. I wrote to them telling them that everything was fine and that I wanted to live in peace. He who does not forgive "God does not forgive him," he opened up in this radio interview.
Religious faith was one of the keys to overcoming the most difficult moment in his life.
“The day I entered I thought I would leave the next day.
And it was seven months.
They told me: 'you'll be out next month' and it continued like that.
It's like you start to lose hope,” he explained about the fact that he lived in prison.
In the midst of this nightmare there was a moment that stands out as the worst of all: "When we arrived, everyone was passing by where we were to play soccer, a whole pavilion, and the police left the doors open. Here they come and steal everything from you.
No matter how much you are Tyson, 20 come and ten have knives. They stabbed the guy next door a couple of times.
Sometimes it's knowing how to speak too."
And he left a very particular definition:
"You don't have to act very bad or be very good.
If you act bad, you face ten people who have ten more friends. And if you are very good, they even steal your sneakers."
🗣 🎙 “I spent approximately seven months in jail.
No matter how much you are Tyson, they come in 20 at a time and steal everything from you”, Adrián 'Maravilla' Martínez in #UnBuenMomento with @marcepalaciosmp |
https://t.co/AuI07f91PJ
— Radio La Red - AM 910 📻 (@radiolared) February 27, 2024
In addition, he told of the poor nutrition of the prisoners as soon as they arrive at the prison: “While you are in the mailbox you have to search for them.
During the time I was there, they gave a flute of bread that was made without yeast, so you had to dip it in the cooked mate because it was really hard.
"If your family doesn't bring you food, you don't eat."