First of all, there is this film physics.

Weathered complexion, burnt and broken face, tattooed flesh.

Reluctantly, in part.

Accidentally scalded at the age of nine months, he has kept scars, from the face to the torso.

At twelve, a swing also broke his jaw.

A bruised body and some big bruises in the soul too.

In his disreputable neighborhood of "Fort Apache" which earned him his nickname, his father was shot dead when he was only five years old.

His mother is plagued by addictions and it is finally an uncle, Segundo Tevez, who raises him.

Fortunately for the Apache, the round ball offers him a door of survival.

"Without football, I would have finished like many children in my neighborhood, I would have died or been in jail, or drugged somewhere in the street," he confided.

He joined the Boca Juniors training center, then under the orders of Carlos Bianchi, in 2003 he achieved a Championship-Copa Libertadores-Intercontinental Cup treble.

Called up for selection, he lost a Copa America final in 2004, but won the Olympic title at the Athens Olympics by finishing top scorer.

Carlos Tevez with Manchester United against Middlesbrough at Old Trafford, October 27, 2007 Andrew YATES AFP/Archives

The TPO imbroglio

The rest of Tevez's career follows the desires of a fuzzy company, Media Sports Investments (MSI), to which Tevez ceded part of his economic rights.

A mechanism of third-party ownership (TPO) widespread in Latin America which will be banned by Fifa in 2015.

At the beginning of 2005, Tevez thus took over the management of Brazil and the Corinthians, owned by MSI.

Then in 2006, he landed with his compatriot Javier Mascherano at West Ham.

It's an Apache goal that avoids relegation to the Hammers, but sends Sheffield to the Championship.

The Yorkshire club will challenge the regularity of the contracts of the two Argentinians and will be compensated, but not reinstated in the Premier League.

Argentinian Carlos Tevez honored at West Ham United ahead of a Premier League game against Burnley, April 17, 2022 JUSTIN TALLIS AFP/Archives

Tevez then begins his Mancunian years.

At United, where he won two championships and a Champions League between 2007 and 2009. Then with the enemy City, where the experience was more mixed and marked by his degraded relationship with Roberto Mancini and his refusal to come into play during a match in September 2011.

War of declarations, return to the country, fines, the soap opera ends with a public apology from the Argentinian who returns to the team in March 2012 and contributes with Sergio Agüero to the conquest of the title of champion.

In 2013, he flew to Juventus Turin.

With the Bianconeri, everything smiles on him, or almost.

He was notably crowned Italian champion twice, ended a five-and-a-half-year drought without a goal in the Champions League, but still lost the C1 final in 2015.

Big salary and overweight

After this second season ended with 29 goals, Tevez was homesick and returned to Boca.

"It's a fabulous day here, it's my home (...) I'm coming back when I'm at my best," he said.

Tevez returns and Boca revives by winning the Championship after several years of waiting.

Carlos Tevez, scorer for Juventus against Real Madrid in the Champions League in Turin, May 5, 2015 Olivier MORIN AFP / Archives

But "the man of the people", as he is nicknamed because of his history and his philanthropy, does not resist the call of China where a salary of 38 million euros per year awaits him.

He becomes the highest paid player in the world.

However, the one-year experience at Shanghai Shenhua turned into a fiasco between overweight, poor form and criticism of the level of Chinese football.

What could be better than a new return to Boca to revive?

On March 7, 2020, with a powerful strike of which he has the secret, the attacker capsized the Bombonera and offered, at 36, a 34th title to the Xeneizes.

In June 2021, Tevez announced his departure from Boca for family reasons.

He hasn't played since.

In an interview with America TV on Friday evening, he explained that he was hanging up because he had lost his "biggest fan", his adoptive father, who died of Covid in February 2021.

After a strong career of more than 300 goals, 76 selections and 29 titles, the other idol of Boca, with Maradona and Riquelme, to whom Netflix devoted a series in 2019, will therefore definitely put away his crampons to turn to a career. of coach.

In June 2020, he had already imagined his jubilee.

"If I retired and had to organize a farewell match, my team would be: Gianluigi Buffon, Hugo Ibarra, Rio Ferdinand, Gabriel Heinze, Patrice Evra, Paul Scholes, Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney. I would stay on the bench."

We don't have to believe it.

© 2022 AFP