CARLOS GUISASOLA
@C_Guisasola
Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - 01:51
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The heart of Turin has been without a heartbeat for weeks. "You don't see two people on the street. It is empty ", tells this newspaper Álex Berenguer (Pamplona, 1995), which has defended the colors of Torino FC since 2017. The capital of Italian Piedmont was one of the first major airstrips that the coronavirus found in Europe:" At the beginning my mother said to me: 'It won't be that bad'. And I answered him: 'It will come to you. When it comes to you, you will notice. ' Álex would have liked to have failed with his prediction, but, since the first great outbreak in the city occurred two months ago, he knew first-hand how serious the matter was. “At the beginning we continued training normally. Although we did not play games, because in the end they were always postponed. Until one day they told us to stay home. And there he waits (we wait) for the happy pandemic to die down as soon as possible.
"Right now football is the least of it. It has passed to a third or fourth plane. The most important thing is people's lives and, above all, the people who risk their own to save others. They are the ones who deserve good things. His way of shouldering was by making a donation to the San Raffaele hospital in Milan and, of course, not leaving home. "In the end, soccer players have purchasing power and you have to help people with whatever you can. If it is with money, with money ».
Its flat is located in the center of the city. It is large and has a good terrace. Andrea Belotti , captain and icon of the club, lives in that same block of flats ('palazzo' for Italians) , with whom he has quite a deal. Alex is not alone. He shares with Sofia, his girlfriend, who studies in Italy since before his transfer from Osasuna was made (the Turin team paid just over five million euros), these eternal days of confinement. "The company is very good, because if I were alone I would pull my hair out." Well, and also with the little Lion, his dog: "We take him out from time to time, although it is not advisable to go out with them much either because it is a bit of a hassle to clean him every time you return home."
Monopoly, Netflix, and the PlayStation (always with their friends), of course, take care of the rest. Also the daily video calls to the family, so necessary when one is away from home. «I had never left home. I had always been in Pamplona, with my family, with my parents, my uncles ... So the first year I had a bit of a hard time because I was alone and my mother used to come often. Now I am very adapted ».
Sirigu's call
His routine starts at around 10. First of all, a good breakfast with eggs, omelette or sandwich. At around 12, he has to train, following the exercises that the club has sent him. And it ends with about 40 or 50 minutes on a treadmill to maintain physical fitness: «In the end you are an hour and a half doing sports. It comes in handy because you get a little clear. From the Torino coaching staff they often write to him regularly and the coach, Moreno Longo , calls him often, like the rest of his colleagues: «One day a week we make a video call all together and train. It's very good". The president, Urbano Cairo, is always in contact with the captains and it is they who transmit their message to the rest. "He likes football a lot," recalls Álex, already used to this strange paradox that there is a majority of Torino FC in Turin and there are more fans of Juventus, Toro's eternal rival, in the rest of the peninsula.
Berenguer was encouraged to leave an Italian by Pamplona. That summer of 2017, apart from experiencing his last Sanfermines ("I have been a few when I was younger. So I have no problem"), the name of Salvatore Sirigu appeared on his mobile screen . The transalpine international goalkeeper had been his partner in Osasuna during the second round of the championship. «One day he was at home and called me. He tells me that he was going to Torino and tries to convince me to go there with him. That there were good people, that the club is milk ... And the truth is that I can't complain ». Until the coronavirus stopped the planet, Álex had signed five goals and three assists in the 24 games of the course (Serie A, Coppa and Europa League) and was only one game away from matching the 84 games he played with Osasuna.
And that Italian football is not easy for a guy with his profile: "Here, if you want to catch the ball, you have a guy right behind you who is biting your ear." At the time, he mentally reviews his last races, two months ago, on the green of San Siro . It was the last game played by Álex, a lover of Neymar's exclusive filigree and, also, of the intelligence and versatility of his former teammate Roberto Torres. All of this is now anecdotal. In the end, it's just soccer. "The important thing now is that we all be well and that we can return to normality as soon as possible."
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