Papu Gómez Recalls Unforgettable Moments from the Qatar 2022 World Cup

Papu Gómez reappeared in public and told unknown anecdotes from the Qatar 2022 World Cup

Alejandro Papu Gómez, who is currently without a team and off the playing fields as a result of a two-year suspension after testing positive in an anti-doping test, broke his silence during an interview with the Italian program Cronache Di Spogliatoio (Locker Room Chronicles) , where he recalled what happened at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, revealing some unpublished anecdotes, such as the strong reaction of technical director Lionel Scaloni when he entered the locker room and saw how his team celebrated the elimination of Brazil at the hands of Croatia in the run-up to the commitment of the quarterfinals against the Netherlands.

“It was our match against Holland and Brazil-Croatia was being played. We were going by bus to the stadium, goal for Brazil. OK, Brazil wins easy; Now we have to win. We knew that against Brazil was the only game we could lose, that it was the game. With the others we had confidence to win; but Brazil, obviously, is Brazil,” the former Sevilla of Spain and Atalanta of Italy began his story. And then he added: “We arrived at the stadium, Croatia goal. We celebrate. We were all changed for the warm-up, and the penalties. We celebrated the penalty shootout that Croatia won as if it were a game that we won.”

This action was not seen well by the national strategist, who chose to insult his team to get them out of that state of celebration and to focus on the confrontation they were about to play: “Scaloni came and insulted us. He said ‘What the f… are you doing?’ Let’s concentrate…, we have to go play.’ And we were all hugging each other, because we had so much confidence because we knew that against Holland it was impossible to lose.” “We knew that outside of Brazil we were more or less on our way to the final,” he concluded.

Papu Gómez recalled what happened in Qatar 2022 (Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)

Another point that was focused on during the note was the important intervention of Emiliano Martínez before a one-on-one match with Randal Kolo Muani. “Dibu’s save? It was complete madness. When I saw the ball go past Otamendi I thought: ‘It’s over.’ The Bank of France was also ready to celebrate. But then he made that save… Sensational.”

It is worth noting that the former Arsenal de Sarandí and San Lorenzo in Argentina told what the cabal that reigned within the substitutes’ bench was before each penalty shootout. “We shouted ‘Kiricocho’ at everyone, because it is the shout with which we try to bring bad luck to the rival.” The Albiceleste, which took first place in Group C (shared a zone with Poland, Mexico and Saudi Arabia), overcame two penalty shootouts during the competition: against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and against France in the tournament’s finale.

“After the World Cup final in Qatar, it was pure madness. We were all crying. There is an anecdote that made me laugh a lot: we were in the countryside and there was Salt Bae, the chef who is famous for how he adds salt. He was on the field and had won the cup. And we with our family were waiting to take photos. But what was he doing there? I still don’t know,” the 35-year-old midfielder said with a laugh. “Then we got on the plane: 25 hours of travel. We arrived in Buenos Aires and 50 thousand people were waiting for us. The next day, however, there were 5 million. At the end of the party, I took a taxi home to my family. After so much time in the open car, I was completely burned, I couldn’t even sit down,” he concluded.

Other phrases by Papu Gómez:

– “Gasperini changed my mentality in training. Before him I was very lazy. When I saw the results, I knew he was right. He changed my way of training. On the pitch, how he prepares the games, how he understands them tactically: he teaches football.”

– “The best Papu of all? At San Siro against Dinamo Zagreb, probably. When I made pipes and goals. The Italian Cup final in Rome was certainly unforgettable, with 25,000 people from Bergamo in tow.”

– “I almost signed with Inter when Stramaccioni was there, then they fired him. When I was at Atalanta, during 3 transfer windows some teams contacted me, especially Lazio.”

– “Galliani is sensational. He still plays away from home, he is on the field every day. It all started when Monza was in Serie C, he told me: ‘When you leave Atalanta, you will come here to Monza.’”

– “After my foul against Valverde I had to change my mobile number. We were losing 3-1 against Real Madrid and I made a stupid foul. When trying to intercept a pass I hit him in the knee and stepped on Valverde’s ankle. Poor thing, I hurt him. There was a month left until the World Cup, a scandal broke out! Argentina… Uruguay… They said they wanted to leave him out of the World Cup! Both the Real Madrid and Uruguayan fans attacked me. They published my cell phone number on the Internet. Calls, messages… I had to change it. Of course I called Valverde to apologize, I explained to him that he was just a game contact.”

2024-01-16 11:18:00
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