Yes River He has been enjoying the glory for a long time, if he managed to transform himself into Boca’s black beast in the hand-to-hand series, if the wardrobe is a chest as sacred as it is impenetrable, it is largely due to that man who will turn 40 on January 29 And now he is excited at the Monumental stadium because all the millionaire fans go out of their way to thank him. Leonardo Ponzio he earned that moment reserved for special footballers, who leave a mark.
He is the same Ponzio who played for Zaragoza for eight seasons, divided into two cycles. In the first, between 2003 and 2007, he won the Spanish Super Cup and the Copa del Rey. The second, between 2008 and 2011, included a return to the First Division. It was at the birth of 2012 when he chose to resign a debt of one million euros to return to a very hot River, which was struggling to ascend. Surely he did not imagine the nine great years he would live …
“Olé olé olé, Ponziooo Ponziooo”, River fans sang to him throughout Sunday at the Monumental. “Come, come dance with me, that you are going to find a friend, that with the help of Leo Ponzio, we are all going to turn around”, repeated the millionaire fans. They did it before the game against Defense and Justice, when Ponzio was walking on the playing field. They did it at 23 (the number on his shirt) minutes into the first half and the second.
River fans also caressed Ponzio with those little songs at 30 of the final stage, when Marcelo Gallardo decided to include him although the game did not ask for it, so that he would have the farewell he deserved. And they did it again at the end, when he walked to the locker room, solemnly escorted by all his teammates …
He led the team with personality in its supremacy against Boca
Ponzio greeted and touched the shield on his shirt. His gaze shone. Some tear escaped him. It is clear that the emotion won him. And it is understood. The story is too strong. Their numbers hit with the diagonal red band: 356 games, 16 titles and 10 goals. However, if his face got into the flag that the fans reserve for their greatest idols, it was because with total personality he led the team at the beginning of its supremacy in the duels against Boca. And he was also in the unforgettable final of Libertadores in Madrid. Later, when the passage of time prevented him from holding the title, he put his ego aside and continued taking care of the health of the locker room.
While it has not yet been defined whether Gallardo will continue in 2022 as a millionaire coach, Ponzio last played for Monumental in River’s 3-2 defeat against Defensa y Justicia. The champion lost an unbeaten 18-episode game in a great game, dynamic, beautiful, open, without pettiness, inappropriate for current Argentine football.
Ponzio still has two more episodes left with the River shirt. One in Tucumán, against Atlético, at the end of the Argentine tournament. The other will be for the Champions Trophy, on Saturday 18 in Santiago del Estero, against Colón. It will be a final. Will he also be champion in the last farewell?
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