Who is Cuti Romero, the great surprise of the Scaloni National Team that was a figure against Chile and scored a great goal against Colombia

Until recently, he was a somewhat unknown footballer for many who do not follow the day to day of the Italian tournament. But the race of Cristian Romero took a transcendental impulse in recent weeks beyond the fact that Juventus had bet heavily on his record some time ago: was chosen the best defender in Serie A and now shines in the Argentine national team commanded by Lionel Scaloni.

The thing is Holiday did not disappoint in his debut before Chile, where He was the starter and one of the greatest figures, Y scored the first goal against Colombia, with a superb header after two minutes, in his second comparison with the Albiceleste of this double date of South American Qualifiers towards the World Cup in Qatar 2022. Then he was cautioned at the end of the first half for a key infraction to cut a clear Colombian advance and he will lose the duel against Bolivia, after the Copa América.

The evolution of the central marker in the last season defending the shirt of the Atalanta He broke any kind of expectations and also convinced the coach of the national team, who preferred him over other names such as Germán’s Pezzella, Nicholas Otamendi, Lisandro Martínez or his partner in Atalanta José Luis Palomino.

The Holiday, his nickname since he was a child, began his career in San Lorenzo de Las Flores. Shortly after, Workshops He recognized the defender’s talent and signed him without hesitation. The detail that the Romero family hid is that they were fans of Belgrano and Cristian was defending the colors of the classic rival. But two years later, the intentions were accommodated and he went on to play for him Pirate: “It was all thanks to my dad. He got me a proof. “

Category 1998, he always stood out in the lower ranks and managed to make the jump to First in 2016, the year in which he signed his first contract as a professional. On August 28 of that year, started in the 1-0 defeat against Independiente with Esteban González as coach of the celestial picture. He accumulated 12 more games in his club until the Announcement of the Argentine U-20 team who got a ticket to the World Cup in the category that was held in South Korea during 2017. Although Romero played seven of the nine South American games in Ecuador, then he was not called up for that World Cup.

The rapid growth caught the attention of several European clubs until the Genoa presented a tempting offer to Belgrano: USD 2.4 million for the entire token. Again, his cover letter in Serie A echoed the most powerful team in Italy today and the Holiday was located on the radar of the Juventus after outstanding passage through Genoa.

The Turin club put 26 million euros on the table to keep his chip in mid-2019 and signed him contract until 2024. However, given the overpopulation of defenders left him on loan in Genoa for a season and later gave it back on loan, but this time at Atalanta until June 2022. That is to say, it did not get to be released with the Old lady and your current club has a 16 million euro purchase option, which must be added to the 4 already scheduled for their assignment.

Since his arrival at the Bergamo team, Cristian has been a libero in the 3-5-2 scheme used by the coach. In this season’s Champions League, they qualified second in Group D which dominated the Liverpool and faced the Real Madrid in the round of 16 where they fell 4-1 on aggregate. Furthermore, Atalanta finished third in the Italian league and once again defended their place in the group stage of the biggest club tournament on the continental level.

His great performance was reflected in the end-of-season awards. Its function in the background of the Nerazzurri was so key in the last semester that it was officially recognized by UEFA in the “Revelation team 2020” along with other internationally renowned footballers. On the other hand, Serie A recognized him as the best defender of the year in Italy on their social networks: “Unstoppable in one-on-one, quick to recover and smart when it comes to anticipating the opponent’s plays: an outstanding season!”.

Statistics indicate that the Holiday with his 23 years he already adds 88 games in Serie A and screamed 5 goals in that league. In addition, it accounted for 7 appearances in the Italian Cup and others 7 en Champions League, where he scored a goal for Denmark’s Midtjylland.

The biggest beneficiaries of this enormous present from Cristian Romero are Juventus – who still have his pass although he never officially played there – and Lionel Scaloni, coach of the Argentine national team. In his first call to the Major, the technical director did not hesitate and positioned him next to Lucas Martínez Quarta, Fiorentina center-back, in a line of four that completed Juan Foyth in the right lane and Nicolás Tagliafico in the left sector.

“We decide the players by training. Cristian we believe he had a very good season. What we saw in the practices and in different tests. He left us very satisfied. It is the moment to play and demonstrate. It is his first game but we believe that he has conditions and he was designated as the best center-back in Serie A, but the award was not necessary for us to take it into account. We believe that the decision is correct. He has all our confidence, he is a spectacular boy. It has all the conditions to be here for many years “Scaloni praised him at a press conference.

At 23 years old, he does not stop growing as a professional and will have the opportunity to begin his story with the highest team in his country. The man from Cordoba fulfilled his dream of debuting with the albiceleste last Thursday in the Mother of Cities stadium of Santiago del Estero in the duel against Chile for the 7th date of the Qualifiers, and also started from the beginning against Colombia in Barranquilla. There is no doubt that with these actions he showed the coaching staff that he must be taken into account in the list of players who will play the Copa América to be held in Brazil in the coming weeks.

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