The news that River is going to pay homage this Sunday to Franco Armani, Pablo Aimar and Roberto Ayala brought a surprise. The idea of the club was that all the world champions of the “millionaire” were in the pre-match with Argentines giving medals to the heroes of Qatar. The name that divided the waters in the previous one had to do with a special guest: Daniel Alberto Passarella. The “Kaiser” confirmed his attendance and now the question revolves around his reception at the Monumental.
After many twists and turns, and even speculating about his loss, The Kaiser’s family confirmed his presence to the River Plate leadership. In this way, Passarella will be part of that award ceremony in which there will be no leaders, only albiceleste glories that, at the time of conquering the world, they wore the River shirt. Armani will take a medal and a plaque; Aimar and Ayala, their respective medals… And the Kaiser?
Passarella and if he linked with River after the descent of 2011
The Great Captain, who has been a legend for FIFA for decades, the first footballer dressed in light blue and white to know how much the trophy that Messi has just lifted weighs and the only one with two medals, he is at the same time the president who sank the ship of this giant a little less than 12 years agoSince then, a persona non grata for a good part of the River world and a man with an open legal process against him for crimes of fraudulent administration, initiated by the club itself at the beginning of D’Onofrio’s management.
What a priori seems very logical -that River invite a world champion to honor more world champions- in this case it generated surprise from many and indignation from others, due to a complex background.
The club’s decisionmeditated over the last three weeks, seems to fit into a process that began years ago, perhaps since the historic feat of 2018 at the Bernabéu, which tries to accept River’s passage through the B Nacional outwards, resignify it with a different look: with the already written diary of the Gallardo cycle, having hit bottom may have served to gain momentum and reach eternal glory (something that Passarella himself predicted at that time, without much tact, using Corinthians as an example).
For this reason, segments of the team’s passage through Segunda began to appear in institutional videos and for this reason, too, On May 25 of last year River decided to include the image of the Kaiser himself for the 121st anniversary (and Passarella’s 69th birthday).
With the confirmed attendance of Passarella: how will it be received by the River fans?
Although the Kaiser’s family confirmed their attendance -the leadership will provide him with two places in the box of honor and four more to his relatives-we will have to wait until Sunday to see if it materializes.
At the moment, those who are confirmed are the Pato Fillol, Beto Alonso, Negro Enrique, Oscar Ruggeri and Cinthia Luque representing their fatherwho died in 2021. Pumpido, today Assistant Secretary General of Soccer and Director of Development of Conmebol, excused himself because he will have to travel from Morocco over the weekend (where he saw the elimination of Flamengo in the Club World Cup) to Colombia due to the definition of the South American Sub 20, while Oscar Ortiz They couldn’t contact him yet.
Go or not Passarella on Sunday, River’s call is a milestone in symbolic terms for the relationship with the former defender, former coach and former president of the club. Especially since the social condemnation for him, as great or greater than for José María Aguilar, still exists, although time has turned the page for many fans.
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