2023-08-20 09:00:00
Idolatry or the indelible step marked by the chosen ones. Those few enlightened and a permanent state of grace beyond time. What Ariel Ortega provokes in the fans has no expiration date and a new unconditional acceptance test has been passed.
The Burrito knows, understands and accepts that he is an idol because the adoration cannot be explained. He sits down and enjoys himself. It is more than 30 years ago when he made his first contact with his love club, which at that time saw him as unreachable from the deep interior of his native Jujuy.
But one day Ortega came down from the North and following almost 30 hours of traveling by bus, upon arriving at the Retiro terminal He told the coach who discovered him that his only destination would be Riverand not Independent where they expected it to prove it.
Much less Boca since Roberto Cacho Gonzalo, that was the name of the DT with whom the Burrito made his initiation journey, had contacts with the La Ribera club in addition to Rojo de Avellaneda.
All this and much more told us Burrito Ortega, the third luxury guest of Vértices, the cycle of talks organized by the Diario Río Negro. The legend of River accepted the interview hand in hand and the place chosen this time was the auditorium of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Neuquén.
The complete interview with Ariel Ortega
“People’s recognition is the most beautiful and wonderful thing that football left me, following wearing the River shirt and the Argentine team. I always say that these things cannot be bought, they are given by themselves and the love of the soccer fan is still intact even though I stopped playing several years ago”.
In the hot December of ’90, El Burrito, a nickname inherited from his father -El Burro-, a powerful striker who played on the Ledesma pitches, traveled by bus with Cacho Gonzalo from Jujuy to Buenos Aires to give shape to the dream. to be a footballer
“We arrived at Retiro and I told Cacho that he was only going to test me at River. We traveled between Christmas and New Years, and since on that date they were not selecting players in River, we went to spend the holidays in Mar del Plata because Cacho is from there, ”says Ortega.
After the New Year, they returned to Núñez, took the test, and were told to come back in February. “There I said bye, they don’t call me anymore, they cleaned me up. Until one followingnoon the postman, who was a friend of mine, arrived at my house with a letter: It was River’s summons, which I had to present. It was incredible”.
Orteguita, barely 17 years old, once once more got on the bus from Jujuy to cover the 1,600 kilometers that separated him from his great dream as a boy: to play with River’s shirt.
He spent some games in the sixth division, others in the Reserves commanded by Tolo Gallego and Alejandro Sabella, Daniel Passarella’s field assistants at the time, and from there to the First Division, where He made his debut on December 14, ’91 once morest Platense by the hand of the ‘Kaiser’.
“I have no contact with Daniel, he hasn’t been seen too much for several years,” reveals Ariel regarding who her soccer father was in the beginning.
There would begin the construction of his ascending career in River, where he had three cycles, with the addition of Coco Basile’s call to be part of the Argentine National Team heading to the United States ’94, following his first two brilliant seasons in River.
El Burrito at 20 years old: “It happened to me with the National Team at that time when I had the ’90 World Cup very much in mind, when we played at the end. I was in my town and I saw many of those players, who were now my teammates. It was something incredible what happened to me in those three years. In the tournament before the World Cup I did very well and Coco called me”.
Ortega rolls his memory and tells the details of the first of the three world cups that he had to play. Even on the previous tour, where he shared a room with Diego. “I had to see him fully, he was a great companion, he made you feel like one of the others. It was something wonderful and I always thanked him for it.
Ortega has to debut in a World Cup at a very particular moment: replace Maradona following Diego “had his legs cut off”. “Unfortunately in the World Cup what happened happened and that affected us all, it was very sad. That team had great players, when we started I already saw myself lifting the Cup”.
Memories of Burrito in the national team go from here to there, from the great match once morest England in France ’98, recognized as the best man of the match, going through his expulsion once morest the Netherlands (“it was one of the most difficult moments of my career ”) and the premature elimination of Korea-Japan 2002 with Marcelo Bielsa as coach.
“When we were eliminated following drawing with Sweden, Marcelo was destroyed. We went to the hotel and I go in to see him in the room. And I don’t know why I tell him: ‘Marcelo, thank you very much for all the chats we had…’, and he looks at me and says: ‘If I never chatted with you…’ (laughs) Marcelo was like that, he told you everything up front. He was the best technician I had, ”says the Burrito.
Ortega had three cycles wearing the River shirt, although if it were up to him he would never have left Núñez. Around the United States ’94, the Burrito won everything with the team led by Ramón Díaz, including the 1996 Copa Libertadores.
The bad guys from Ortega’s personal film. «I had to leave due to pressure from the leaders and also from the representatives I had. I always told them that I didn’t want to leave, but the football environment is complicated.
“I don’t put everything in the same bag, but many representatives lead you to do things that you do not feel. They drive you to make wrong decisions… I was betrayed, they stole my money. If it were up to me, I would have stayed in River all my life. It was a good experience to go to Europe but if I stayed I would have been even happier.”
Ortega would return to River in 2000 and following two years, “exile” once more. This time he had to go to the Turkish Fenerbache, where he played only 14 games. «At that time, 50% of my pass was from Parma and the other 50% from River. Everywhere they said that I was going to Turkey and I had not spoken to anyone. I came back from the World Cup and Those of Parma, those of River, my representative had already sold me … They put a bow on me and bye ».
After a summons from the National Team in April 2003, Ortega did not return to Turkey. He was sanctioned for breach of contract and was unemployed for 19 months. “I had a very bad time all that time,” admits the Burrito who was rescued by Tolo Gallego to play at Newell’s, where he was the 2004 Apertura champion.
El Burrito said goodbye to soccer in 2013, but he did it from the national team in 2010 when Diego Maradona called him up for a friendly once morest Haiti, in Cutral Co, before the World Cup in South Africa. “It was something magical, that he called me so I might say goodbye to the National Team and hug him at the end of the game was incredible.”
That night in Cutral Co the fans gave him a standing ovation, thirteen years later we verified that the popular heat for the Burrito did not go extinct, far from it. THE MNBA heats up towards the end and cheers one of the greatest idols in the history of Argentine soccer at the farewell.
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