“They are waiting for you at the cut”said a boy, approximately 10 years old, to Martin Vitali. It was 2001 and the player had landed in Racing following a fleeting passage through Independiente, the historical rival. “The cut” to which the boy was referring was the well-known Corbatta Passageadjacent to the stadium The academy. When he got out of the car, the defender met the red barrabravas, who made two requests: not to kiss the shirt of his current team and to return the clothes of his old club. The next day he complied with the second claim.
“I understand that it is the way in which the fans express themselves. At that time he did not have a cell phone, but they left me messages on my mom’s landline answering machine. I know it’s part of folklore,” he says now. Martin Vitali -nicknamed Pelotin in those days- in dialogue with THE NATION.
Martín Vitali began his professional career in Western Railway, a club that at the end of the 90’s played in the First Division. After four years it was his turn to pass to Independent, which sheltered him during 2000, but for which, he remembers, he was not up to date with the payments. This situation forced him to look for new paths and the road was short: two blocks away, following signing with Racing.
Born in Moreno, the former player went through various positions in the defense -and even the midfield- until he settled on the right side. After signing his contract with La Academia, he would expect him to meet a team that had come from fighting not to be relegated and that was going through a deep institutional crisis that would lead him to management.
“The campus was assembled on time. The point was in the ability of Mostaza Merlo to find the position for each player and the scheme to make it work. With the passing of the dates we entered into a dynamic in which we almost always played the same ones and we were able to win the championship”, recalls one of the members who contributed to end the 35-year drought without local titles.
After going through different circumstances in the championship, Racing’s coronation was delayed. In the middle of December 2001, the country exploded and the crisis, marked by a corralito, looting and repression, reached the tournament.
“We were very anxious, very nervous, we wanted to play the game with Vélez, but we didn’t know when. There was the fear that it would be postponed until January 2002 and then I don’t know what would have happened”, says Vitali, one of the youngest players on that team.
And I add: “Although the player himself lives in a bubble, especially those in the First Division who are paid well and do not suffer from day to day, he had a notion of friends and family who were having a very bad time. The country did not give for more”.
Finally, on December 27, at the José Amalfitani Stadium, Racing drew once morest Vélez 1-1 and was able to turn Olympic. “People celebrated; the title was special and you get a little selfish that one only cared regarding sports and not what was happening outside, “he says and emphasizes:” At the same time, we were not responsible for the shit that the politicians sent themselves.
Until 2003, Vitali continued in Racing. Waiting for a new offer, he tried his luck in Spanish football with the shirts of the leganes y Getafe. In this last team, he did not have the support of DT, who told him in the first practice that he “never asked for it” as reinforcement.
The injuries began to be frequent. Upon returning to Racing in 2005, in the first six months of the second cycle he lived with a knee injury that worsened due to infiltrations. “I broke my knee and played undercover for six months; that caused my cartilage and kneecap to be destroyed. When I had surgery, the area was destroyed and it took me a year to return to the courts to be able to jog”, says Vitali.
After being released, his trajectory continued in new chicago and the APOP of Cyprus, his last club in 2010. Once back in the country, he decided to give up professional activity. From there, there was a break that to date he might not heal.
“There is nothing that generates you the same as playing football. In fact, I never found a passion that gave me the same. Sometimes it’s hard to find something that motivates you”, he recounts regarding those times.
After a brief stint through the lower ranks of Racing as amateur football coordinator, Vitali, along with his then partner, decided to start in Brazil. “She opened an art gallery, a decoration house and a bar with Asian food: there were drinks, music… the idea was a very good one”, he details.
In charge of receiving the merchandise, controlling it, serving customers and other activities related to logistics, the former player settled in trancoso, to the south of the neighboring country. “I was six years. It was a small, beautiful town, it was another life”, he recalls.
Along with its activities in Brazil, Vitali started working with his dad, who owns a real estate development company. and is focused on advising for the construction of houses and buildings in the western area of the suburbs.
With a tireless tour of the right wing, Pelotín stops in the conversation and details a new venture: “I opened a used car dealership with a friend, which works as a service for people who want to sell it; I do the sales management to get a commission”.
At 47 years old, the memories of a professional soccer player still remain in his memory. His title in 2001 with Racing gave him a visibility that, to this day, the fans thank him for. With his sights set on returning to Brazil, where he will look for new commercial horizons, he awaits the completion of a building he is in charge of in Merlo. As a winger on both bands and even as a midfielder, he always showed that versatility is his strong point to adapt to different situations in life..
