Esequiel Barco’s decision to take the penalty that had been saved against Atlético Tucumán while coach Martín Demichelis instructed him to take it Borja This is not his first disobedience in his career.. In fact, The millionaire forward relapsed into something for which he had already been questioned less than a year ago. On March 13, 2023, River beat Godoy Cruz 3-0 at the Monumental. Luke Beltrán scored the first two goals that afternoon.
At 31 minutes into the second half, alerted by the VAR, referee Silvio Trucco went to the monitor to observe an action where Enzo Díaz had received an infraction in the area. When the judge validated the penalty, The public showed their enthusiasm for Beltrán to score his first hat-trick with the red band.
However, Esequiel Barco had other plans. Having just entered, he automatically took the ball and prepared to kick it. Beltrán threatened to ask him, but his partner did not give in. He settled the ball and made it 3 to 0.
Things didn’t get any worse, partly because the penalty was converted and also because of Beltrán’s professionalism. who, beyond exhibiting a certain annoyance at the moment of the shot, was very cautious in his subsequent statements: “I asked for the penalty, but Ese took it. I was confident enough to hit him and, well, he hit him. Obviously I wanted to try to score three goals, but this is a group, there is a very healthy competition that we have among all of us and if we all score it will be better,” he told ESPN after the game.
Days later, in the first practice, they showed that the apparent conflict over that penalty against Tomba was deactivated. After training at the River Camp, both posed hugging, with a smile from ear to ear and the club portrayed the postcard with the word “team” and two emojis of bumping fists. And hours before, they also gave the note on Instagram.
“This is the way, together“, Barco posted with photos of the celebration of his conquest. Amid the comments of other team members, Beltrán also left his: “Good turrooooo”.
Beyond that, finally Barco It turned out to be a good addition for the Millionaire, to the point that he met the objectives set and in November he made use of the purchase option. Atlanta United made the sale official with an Instagram story of the player wearing the club’s shirt and a message of gratitude.
On North American soil, Barco had had some extra-football problem. In July 2018, and after becoming Atlanta United’s most expensive signing, He was separated from the squad by Gerardo Martino, then the club’s coach, for two games, as a result of “an act of indiscipline.”, of which the coach did not want to give too many details. “Esequiel had an act of indiscipline and therefore is out of the team,” Tata then indicated. Then he added briefly: “I have no comment regarding the act of indiscipline. and his status for Montreal is to be outside.”
The episode in Tucumán
The events that occurred last night at the Dean’s stadium are known. It was 18 minutes into the first half and the play occurred that took River out of focus of the game.. Penalty for el Millonario for fouling Nacho Fernández. Barco kicked and Devecchi saved him. In the midst of general chaos, the VAR warned that there was an invasion and that it had to be kicked again. There it was seen that Demichelis spoke with Borja and made an unequivocal gesture: that the person responsible for the execution had to be the Colombian.. In case it was not clear, nine fingers showed her hands, both very wide and clear: “the 9″. Barco refused again. And at 28 minutes, the penalty specialist sent the ball to the stands.
From there, Demichelis gave no further indications. He felt the blow to his authority, but when consulted he explained how everything happened: “Anyone can miss a penalty, in this case, two. Esequiel left because I considered that he was not one hundred percent emotionally. He is a great boy, he wanted to convert, he apologized to me because he is not egocentric, he does not think only of himself. In this case he did not want to give up the ball, You learn from everything and today you get a great experience from here.”.
Regarding how the penalty taker is defined, he clarified: “Either of the two are in charge of kicking and they decide, depending on their feelings. But when Esequiel made a mistake, I did participate and asked that it be Miguel, it didn’t happen and the outcome is the known one.”
Regarding the decision of the change he made at halftime, he also revealed why it was at that moment in the game: “(Barco) He is an unbalanced player, he had been doing well, after missing the second penalty there were erratic situations on his part and I considered that he was not doing well. I knew he wasn’t going to be well, that’s why I sent Mastantuono to move and took him out at halftime to take care of him and also not to miss a window. There is no need to dramatize the situation,” he concluded on the subject.
The support of a glory
Although on social networks the majority of millionaire supporters questioned Barco’s attitude, not all of them were critical of the forward who emerged from Independiente, who had strong support. Nothing less than a River glory wrote a message of support to the attacker: Ariel Ortega. On his Instagram account, Burrito offered him words of encouragement by uploading a photo of Barco and the phrase: “Aguante potrero rebellion gambetas.”
Themes
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