Martin Palermo is an outstanding Argentine football player from the end of the past - the beginning of this century. He played football on a professional level for twenty years, played in the position of striker. During his career he changed five clubs, but left the biggest mark in the Argentinean Boca Juniors, whose colors defended a total of ten years. After completing his career, the player coached Argentinean clubs. Examples are Godoy Cruz and Arsenal. Today, he is the head coach of the Chilean Union Espanyola.
Carier start
To play football at a professional level, El Loko (the nickname for the athlete was given to the fans) began at the age of eighteen in his native Estudiantes. The textured powerful striker with the delivered strike quickly attracted the attention of European “whales”, but the player himself was a passionate fan of FC “Boca Juniors”, so in 1997 he joined the “Genoese”. As it turned out later, one legend replaced another. In 1997, the great Diego Maradona, whom the young Estudiantes footballer could only dream of replacing in the club and in the national team, spent his farewell season for the Juniors.
Golden period
Everyone knows how the fans on the Bomboner know how to idolize their idols, and Martin Palermo became one of them at the end of the last century. The footballer helped the team win three championships in a row, win the Libertadores Cup, and defeat Real Madrid in the framework of the Intercontinental Cup. By the way, in a victory match against “creamy” Palermo scored twice. Later, Martin will receive the award for the best player of the tournament and the player of the year in South America.
However, not only the positive records of those golden years will be remembered by Martin Palermo. 3 penalty kicks, not scored in one match, Argentina fans still remember with a smile on their face, and the “achievement” itself was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. The accident for the striker happened in 1999 during the group round match against the national team of Ecuador. Martin himself was twice inaccurate, another time the goalkeeper of the opponent became on the way of the ball into the goal. To his credit, he managed to score a goal in the next match against Uruguay, which helped his team reach the quarterfinals.
European career period
In 2001, Martin Palermo still ended up in Europe. The striker signed a contract with Villarreal and went to conquer Primera. The debut turned out to be quite decent, the forward continued to score goals in the Old World. However, the accident on November 29, 2001 changed everything. In the second round of the King’s Cup, the “yellow submarine” went to Valencia for a guest match against the local “Levante”. At the 98th minute of the match, El Loko sent the most important ball into the opponents' goal, after which, together with his teammates, he rushed to the guest platform to get into the arms of his fans. There were a lot of people who wanted to touch the idol, so after a few seconds the protective fence collapsed Martin right on his foot. For the striker then it all ended in a turning point and several less serious injuries that put Palermo out of action before the end of the season. The drama of the moment was also in the fact that a few months later the Argentine national football team went to the World Cup in Japan and Korea without their cult striker.
By the summer of 2002, Palermo fully recovered from a serious injury, but could not regain its former condition in the coming years. And in Villarreal, and in Betis, and in Alaves, where Martin played until 2004, the striker was in good standing, but he failed to score on a level with his Argentine past.
Return to Argentina
It would seem that in 2004 Martin Palermo returned to his native Boca, as they say, to finish the game, but the player managed to spend more than 300 matches for the Genoese. He became a true legend of the club, and in June 2011, beaten to the eyeballs of the Bomboner, she saw the tears of a great player saying goodbye to the team, the spectators and football.
Confession
Martin Palermo still managed, if not to outshine the great Maradona, then at least make up for Boke’s loss of idol. Fans at the Bomboner, in turn, were ready to carry the player in his arms. Not only because he scored a lot and with taste, but also because Martin scored really important goals, deciding the outcome of fights or held against the gates of principal opponents. So, for example, Martin Palermo was considered a River Plate specialist, who, in ten years as part of the “yellow-blue”, managed to ship an entire basket of balls.
And the striker earned respect for the fact that he never forgot which club gave him the way to big football. In March 2007, Palermo three times "signed" at the gates of Estudiantes, however, none of the goals against the former team, Martin did not celebrate. By the way, out of 11 goals scored by the Argentinean in that championship draw, he spent four at the gates of Khimnasia, the principal opponent of the striped lions. Thus, Palermo seemed to apologize to the fans of Estudiantes.
Another interesting episode that took place in the Argentinean championship in May 2009 will surely be remembered for a long time by the fans of the Boca Juniors club. He happened in a home match against Veles Sarsfield, and the main character of the episode was none other than Martin Palermo. A goal from 40 meters, scored by the Argentinean, became the highlight of that fight, and the goalkeeper of Veles Herman Montoya for a long time could not understand what happened.
Argentina National Football Team and El Loco
Officially, Martin Palermo played for the Argentine national team from 1999 to 2011, but the forward managed to play for the “blue and white” only fifteen matches, the lion's share of which took place at the turn of the century. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, most of his career, Martin Palermo played in not the most popular clubs. Secondly, in the attack of the Argentine national team there has always been a lot of competition, so it can be difficult to break into the main team even to such “bison” as El Loco.