A doorman of
36 years
,
Argentine
champion of the
Libertadores Cup
, the
Cup and the Recopa Sudamericana River Plate
, two
Clausura
with Velez Sarsfield, who
won
the Champions League CONCACAF
and an opening with Monterrey, a
Copa de México
with Nexaca ... A goalkeeper who has won everything in South America and who now, years after all that, already setting his last seasons in professional football, has decided to cross the pond and play in the Spanish
Second Division B
.
In
Burgos
.
In a team that has been in Third Division for nothing and that has not even dreamed of being promoted to Second for too many years.
A club that now, with
Marcelo Barovero
(Porteña, 1984) in goal, is fighting for promotion to the second highest category of Spanish football.
A goal that would be theoretically affordable for everything the goalkeeper has experienced, who after lifting the Libertadores came to play the
final of the Club World Cup against
Luis Enrique's
Barcelona
, that of Messi, Suárez and Neymar: 0-3 with a goal from Argentine and Uruguayan double.
Impossible for Barovero.
It was December 20, 2015, his team lost but it was one of the great nights of his life.
A goalkeeper who has made a career in River and in his first adventure in Europe could have achieved a better football destination, one of more category
.
So why Burgos?
That final against Messi
"
I know the decision is rare and striking
, but the possibility was presented to me," explains the goalkeeper to EL MUNDO.
«There was an ex-partner playing there, the owner is Argentine and he knew me, I liked the project and the possibility of living in Spain with my family.
In America I had already played in all the tournaments
, I reached the limit of what a player can play and this was a family opportunity, "he sums up.
The owner of Burgos is
Antonio Caselli
, a former member of the River Plate Board of Directors, and the president is his son
Franco
, who in December 2019 became the
youngest leader in Spanish football
at the
age of 24
, now 25, eleven less than Barovero, one of the team's veterans in a category that admits many footballers close to 40. But age, as they say, is just a number and both Caselli and Barovero have similar goals: to make Burgos great again.
That club that for years was the '
giant killer' of Spanish football
and that lived its golden years in the 70s, in an imposing province that borders on over 350,000 inhabitants.
"
An ambitious project
", admits the goalkeeper.
"The club must be important again," the president acknowledged to this newspaper.
A pending account
Playing in Europe, even in Second B, means
paying a pending account
with his own football career.
The other would be the Argentine team, where the goalkeepers who played in the old continent closed the doors to him despite being River captain and best goalkeeper in his country's championship for several years.
Crossing the pond was the ticket to internationals, he did not give it at the time and although he was summoned by the late Alejandro Sabella, he
never made his debut in an official match with the national team.
His last years have been spent in Mexico, where he wanted to leave.
«We wanted to take advantage of the possibilities that football gives us.
In Mexico I
had some better options at the salary level
, but at the family level Burgos was an offer that suited us well, so I did not look at the economic part ».
According to information from various media in Argentina, the footballer
would have lowered his salary by more than 70%
to sign for the Spanish club, with which he is now third of the 'new' Second B,
fully involved in the fight for the positions that give access to the Playoffs,
three slots in Group A and three in Group B. “Let's go for the gold, which is promotion.
For me it is a good gateway to European football, to measure myself in that football and I have the vitality to compete for several more years.
From his words it is understood the distant dream of being able to play in another category.
"
Obviously I would like to play in First,
" he acknowledges.
But for the moment it is focused on the battle of
Burgos
, the least thrashed of its Group in Second B, a division in which there are also teams that come from Second as Deportivo or Numancia.
«It is a category with a very closed football, with many unknowns, an adventure.
I have never felt neither more nor less than anyone and I feel capable of being up to par.
At the moment, it is.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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