With Falcao we started bad. It was his debut, or almost, he had played a few minutes in a previous game, but that Sunday Merlo mustard gives you ownership in River and, it does not go, that it makes two goals to Independiente …
What are you doing, kid? How can you think? Behave well.
“But who is this Falcao?”
–A Colombian –they illustrate.
-They bought it?
– It comes from inferiors.
– And just to Independiente?
We invite you to read: (James Rodríguez relives his nightmare with muscle injuries)
He chose the River shirt again, but the Madrid one
But then the true fan knows how to recognize the good guys and is happy, whatever the cracks in the picture. And immediately one takes the profile of the character: he was a tiger inside, meek outside, as it should be. The goals were piling up. Then came everything else, the great goals in the Colombian National Team, the ship heading to Europe, the great fame.
And one follows all that evolution with affection, as if one knew him from the neighborhood. His brilliant passage through Porto, through Atlético, the mistake of leaving Spain. That it was his representative, that he was ordered … Anyway, mistake. Spanish football gives a visibility that not even the Premier. And on the return of life, Rayo Vallecano. Falcao, to Rayo Vallecano? How to Lightning …? That is not equipment for him … Why not …? It’s Spain again, the big noise.
“They say he gave up a lot of money to go to Rayo.” Needless to say, it is known, the Lightning even counts the coins. It is one of the happiest decisions of your life. Millionaire already is. He could have searched the MLS, China, Russia, the Sheriff of Moldova or some sultanate out there charging ten times more.
He chose the River shirt again, but the Madrid shirt, the same that other tigers in the area have worn for years, such as Fernando Morena, Rubén Cano, Anton Polster and Hugo Sánchez. And with one goal, just one, the first, he had more impact and generated more joy than in his last six or seven years of adventures around the world.
You can continue reading: (Jaime Echenique, the Colombian smile who is about to play in the NBA)
‘El Tigre’ has three goals in three games.
Juanjo Martin. EFE
When he was 299 annotations in clubs, one forced himself to push the 300. Which came in front of Cádiz. Why are we happy with each goal from Radamel at Rayo…? By the person behind the footballer, a family member, calm, without fuss, declaring the right thing to do.
“Falcao has 335 goals, but he spent four years between injuries; if not, it would be 450 ”, assures colleague Lucho Henao. For many, he is the most successful Colombian player in Europe. When he was in his physical prime, he was really a star at Porto and Atlético, a starter and scorer. It was a train. And at the zenith of his football career, the damn ligament that broke and derailed him. The worst injury at the worst time. He was flying, he had been irrepressible in the 2014 tie for Brazil. It was not the fault of Frenchman Soner Ertek, but fatality.
Anyone who has suffered that injury knows that you don’t even need to be beaten. With your foot supported, you are barely touched, your knee is pushed inward, stability is lost, and the ligament can be cut or stretched. That deprived him of the World Cup for which he had fought so hard. And it was not just any World Cup. With him in full swing, Colombia was in for a historic bombshell.
Then a tortuous journey through Manchester United, Chelsea; the happy stop, but without pomp in Monaco and Turkey… Turkish football pays well, it has passion, but it is a kind of golden retirement. They already call you Don, Don Falcao. And on August 31, the same day that the blind on the pass book in Europe was lowered, the unexpected news: Falcao would sign for Rayo. There was almost no time, but it could be done because he arrived in a free condition. And because Jorge Mendes achieves everything. Madrid again …!
(Maybe Mendes could have offered it to Barcelona, if it was Luuk De Jong…). The novelty still drew a smile on millions. El Rayo is like Chacarita, small, but lovable, with a history of struggle and a large neighborhood behind. In 2013 he achieved his best appearance: eighth. And in 2014 he hit the table: he defeated the six biggest in his stadium: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla and Athletic de Bilbao.
And the sounding board that is the League, where almost all the football monsters played: Di Stéfano, Puskas, Kubala, Cruyff, Maradona, Romario, Kempes, Ronaldo, Zidane, Cristiano, Messi … Ufff, a thousand. But behind the decision to return to Spain there is another reason: playing there opens the doors of the National Team and of a new World Cup, which is already over, barely a year to go. Radamel chose with the document, he knows that it is the last for him, as it is for other predators: Cristiano, Messi, Lewandowski, Luis Suárez, Cavani.
You can also read: (With Cavani and Suárez at the helm, Uruguay is ready to host Colombia)
Respectfully, some Colombian journalists say that, today, Falcao is not here to play 90 minutes continuously. Perhaps this is known to Andoni Iraola, Rayista coach, that is why he enters the field well advanced in the second half. Or when he starts it, like yesterday in Pamplona, he takes it out before.
Perhaps it is taking it little by little. Other colleagues maintain that, at this moment, he is the fifth striker of the National Team; They see him behind Borja, Borré, Zapata and Roger Martínez. The indisputable thing is that, while Falcao was at a high athletic level, he reached a football stature that none of those named will ever reach. It was class A.
That resulted…? Which is a blessing: so far Rayo has one of his best starts of all time, he is fifth, and Tigre has three goals in four outings to the field, but with just a handful of minutes, jumping from the bench. And speaking of the ball itself, what is notable, more than the statistics, have been the forms: three strikes from a scorer, a benchmark in the area.
Against Getafe, defining the far post with confidence before the goalkeeper came out. With a killer header to Athletic (the kings of the aerial game); attacking and anticipating the brand against Cádiz. They were not just pushed, but nine, bravo. He looks physically strong, fast, first in the area. And maintaining one of his great virtues: the positioning, the liveliness to move between the defenders and the always playing outlined towards the goal, not from behind.
Rayo had never been able to beat the Basques in the new San Mamés. He achieved it with that goal shouted to delirium in the 96th minute. And although there have only been four games (and three goals …), it is possible to venture it: it is one of the great successes of his career.
In the antipode of his compadre James, Falcao lives a romance with the goal, with the people and with the media. In Vallecas they still can’t believe it. Until the same day the market closed, no one, even remotely, harbored the slightest suspicion of Falcao’s arrival and in four weeks they have a new idol, the number 3 shirt sold out, in the bars it is a daily issue, the sale skyrocketed of tickets.
“It’s the best thing that could happen to us,” says a parishioner. The good walk of the team coincided with the goals of the Tigre and a Falcaomania was created that less than a month ago was unimaginable. A love story that hardly goes for the first kisses.
LAST TANGO
Jorge Barraza
For the time
In Twitter: @JorgeBarrazaOk
.
