He retired from Boca Juniors because the coach was furious after smoking in the locker room • In recent years he has concentrated only on music • Now Danny Osvaldo has decided to retire, signed in Banfield and is trying to revive a lost career

• Danny Osvaldo in Juventus uniform vs. Inter. Know beautiful days

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cigarette. Three and a half years have passed since Daniel Osvaldo smoked one such, Marlboro, he claims, in the Boca Juniors locker room. It was his last cigarette as a footballer. Coach Guillermo Barroso was hot on his striker before he took a ride, and it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Between the two, an argument ensued, Oswaldo was thrown out of the team, and at that moment Sdi decided to play football. He hung up his shoes, put on his leather jacket and decided to devote his time to the field that goes hand in hand with cigarette smoke: rock 'n' roll. As a soloist and guitarist for the BARRIO VIEJO (Old Quarter) band, the 34-year-old Argentine-Italian has completely disappeared from the football map.

Didn't play, didn't watch, didn't care. And this week, three and a half years after that cigarette, wearing the Rolling Stones shirt, Oswaldo is back. He signed a one-season contract at Banfield from the Argentina Senior League and declared: "My only goal is not to get injured." With lungs like his, that's definitely a worthy goal.

Only six years ago he was a pioneer of the Italian national team after declaring that he has no problem playing against his native Argentina. A charismatic guy, a problematic and unstable personality, but a broad beast that peaked in 2013 captured 17 gates of Seria A in Rome's uniform. Oswaldo was a football nomad. He started in Huracan, went to Europe, and changed teams almost every year.

Atalanta, Lecce, Fiorentina, Bologna, Rome, Espanyol, Southampton, Juventus, Inter, Porto - all played, making sure to stay at the highest levels of European football. He had beautiful moments and great gates, and there were scandals too. In Rome, he confronted the assistant coach and refused to attend the trophy awards ceremony; In Southampton, he was fined, fined and quarreled with a teammate while training; And with great interest with Mauro Icardi. how not.

In fact, as an Oswaldo actor, he was a rock star, with all that implied. The incident in Boca Juniors made it clear to him that the moment had come to choose between the two worlds, so he chose. "I'm tired of coaches telling me I can't smoke. I've smoked my entire career and reached the Italian national team," he grumbled after his retirement and signed: "What are they, my dad?"

If people other than his dad made him quit football, his real dad made him come back. A few months ago, Oswaldo began to roll his mind about returning to the lots. "I started to watch some games and got excited," he told INFOBAE, "and then came an opportunity I couldn't refuse."

Danny Osvaldo. Stop nicotine? Million Dollar Question // Photo: IP

Banfield, the team his father has been sympathetic to all his life and whose stadium is six blocks from his home, has offered a one-season contract. "I haven't thought about it twice," admitted the striker. "It's not a matter of taking a player who has not touched the ball for three and a half years, so I thank them for the attitude and love they give me."

In return, Oswaldo promised to put the music aside and concentrate solely on football, or as he explained: "In music, I can practice until the day I die, in football no. I have another year, two or three to play, and I intend to give it my all."

If there is no strike (in Argentina everything could be), Anfield will retire in a week and a half in a match against Patronato. Oswaldo, meanwhile, is not a part of the team's preparation games, and one can only guess what physical fitness a man has in the last three and a half years replaced a guitar ball and stadium in dim clubs.

Bunfield, in a smart move, is flooding the social networks with photos and videos of the striker in the gym and training ground, and the team members say with enthusiasm that the rockist is practicing with everyone and not being discounted. His comeback to pitches is exceptionally intriguing and gets close coverage, but despite the expectation of big headlines from the big mouthed man, one thing is certain: this time, a cigarette will not interfere.

Benfield coach Julio Plassioni, who has smoked his entire life, became cancerous in the sound box, recovered and returned to smoke. The first sentence he said after signing the striker was: "If Oswaldo intends to smoke in my group, he will come to the office and smoke together."