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There are 516 games and 12 seasons with a single jersey. And we are not talking about someone from yesteryear, but now, when a player barely stays 12 months at the same club, much less 12 seasons.
The farewell of Andrés D’Alessandro from Inter to Palmeiras this Saturday represents the end of the longest career of an Argentine player on Brazilian lawns.
The choice, of course, is subjective and does not leave out other great people who have passed through the country, but the red idolatry perspired by D’Alessandro since 2008 has not found a parallel neither in Tevez and Sorín, practically their contemporaries, nor in Ramos Delgado, Roberto Perfumo and José. Poy, to be just three examples of successes in the most distant football.
The first to consider is the number of games: D’Ale’s 516 for Inter are far behind Tevez (78 for Corinthians) and Sorín (127 for Cruzeiro). It is impressive to know that Poy was São Paulo’s goalkeeper for 525 games (between 1948 and 1962, and he would still be a coach for 422 more games). But while Poy won São Paulo titles, D’Alessandro was champion of Libertadores, Sul-Americana and Recopa, and he honored the Argentine refrain of being “like no one in Brazil.”in good times and in bad much moreHe lifted the biggest cups, but also amassed Serie B clay in 2017.
The second to consider is the true madness colored by D’Alessandro for having lived through the Gre-Nal rivalry, the largest in Brazil (even for his experience in River x Boca). Sorín and Tevez approached this level of worship, but hardly anyone would put Carlitos among the greats in Corinthians history, much for the way he left in 2006, telling the crowd to shut up and practically fleeing the club. Sorín was much loved by the cruzeirenses, the crowd even celebrated his goal with the Argentine team against Brazil in Mineirão, but his conquests (Copa do Brasil, Sul-Minas and Mineiro) did not match those of D’Alessandro, who was still chosen . the best player in South America (in 2010) precisely for Inter.
Today, rarely does a colorado place D’Alessandro among the three great idols of Colorado history, along with Fernandão and Falcão. Is Sorín among the three of the Cruzeiro? The question remains. Tevez, Poy, Conca, Montillo (Sastre, Doval, Fillol, Cejas, Delgado, Andrada, Lucho González, Guiñazu …) are not.
My most memorable moment for D’Alessandro at Inter? His battle against Boca de Riquelme for the 2008 South American Championship. It was there, putting his finger in the face of Viatri, Gaitán and Dátolo in the middle of the Bombonera, and dispatching the xeneizes, that the Inter fans began to put D’Alessandro in their hearts.
To never leave again never, sure.
