Hugo Orlando Gatti, the “Loco”, one of the great characters of Argentine football, died at age 80. The death caused such an impact that the center of the portals and diaries of this country occupied. Suddenly, the memorious journals to one of the most extensive and fruitful sports lives in this country. He had been the goalkeeper of River Plate and Boca Juniors, The two great teams in this country. It had been the first election of Cesar Luis Menotti in the selected 1978 world champion, but an injury took him out of career almost a year earlier. He was locuaz, irreverent, provocative, in good and bad, such as when, in 1980, He called “Gordito” Diego Maradona And the Blue Astro, still in Argentinos Juniors, scored four goals, leaving him ridiculous. A year later they would be companions and champions in Boca.
Gatti, as reported by the Pirovano hospital in the City of Buenos Aires, died after two months of hospitalization for a pneumonia picture. A hip fracture had taken him to the hospital, where he contracted the virus that triggered the fatal outcome.
The “crazy” had becomen a citizen of two soccer worlds, The Argentine, naturally, and the Spanish. Florentino Pérez's friend was one of the animators of ´The chiringuito`, where he used to whip Leo Messi, to the point of putting it not only below the figure of Maradona but of Angel Di María. His tax and scathing style in front of the cameras earned him more than one criticism.
More than goalkeeper, he considered himself a player with a modern vision of football. The cunning and picaresca went hand inalthough many times he preferred to play with his feet, running risks that on some occasions cost him expensive.
An unprecedented trajectory
Gatti debuted in Atlanta in the sixties. In it World of England 1966 He went as a substitute goalkeeper of the albiceleste. He went through River and then went to Gymnastics and Fencing of La Plata, where his unique style allowed him to win as many fans as detractors. He used long hair, like a hippie, and a link. His figure was so seductive that he was the subject of a well -known gin in Argentina. Before reaching Boca, where he won all possible titles locally and internationally together with Juan Carlos Lorenzo, once Mr. of Atlético de MadriD, defended the colors of Unión de Santa Fe. He was an undisputed idol of the Boquenses fans, and that magnetism allowed him to play until 1989. He said goodbye to the soccer fields with almost 45 years. Something similar had never happened.
“I still love football as the first day, but he who decided the fundamental was God. Without the help of the one above, nothing would have been possible, “he said when he retired.
Born in 1944, the “crazy” was a rara opinion of Argentine football. His style would have been like Pep Guardiolto. “He was not an archer. Reducing him to this position seemed an insult. Gatti was a soccer player. The arch, just a launch point. His influence could not be crowded by the lines of the large area. Not much less, his magic. Revolutionary, advanced and fanfare. All that and much more. And genuine. Hugo believed every thing he said,” said the newspaper ´La nation.
In his own words, he could have been part of the squad that won the World Cup in Mexico under the driving of Carlos Bilardo and a Maradona star. He said “no” to the treat for a matter of loyalty with Menotti. He was a consequent polemicist. Like “El Flaco,” he always put Pelé above all consideration and praise his compatriots. The words that used Messi were, however, incomprehensible.
“Goodbye Colega (if it allows me)” wrote in X President Javier Milei, goalkeeper in his youth years and nicknamed “El Loco”. The ultra -rightist could not go against the feeling of national penalty. Days ago, he had been derogatory with Gatti. “Gatti's boludo played with his feet. Next to (Ubaldo) Fillol does not exist,” he said, comparing it to the 1978 World Champion goalkeeper. “Eternal hug from stick to stick, friend and colleague,” said Fillol.
