Martin Palermo is the heir of Maradona

Martin Palermo - an outstanding Argentine football player of the end of the past - the beginning of this century. He played football professionally for twenty years, played in the position of the striker. For his career he changed five clubs, but left the greatest trace in the Argentine "Boca Juniors", the colors of which in total defended ten years. After completing his career, the player coached the Argentinean Examples - Godoy Cruz and Arsenal. To date, he acts as the head coach of the Chilean Unión Española.

Carier start

To play football at a professional level El Loko (the nickname was given to the sportsman by the fans) began at eighteen in his native Estudiantes. The impressive strong striker with the delivered blow quickly attracted the attention of European "whales", however the player was a passionate fan of FC "Boca Juniors", so in 1997 he became a member of the "Genoese". As it turned out later, one legend replaced another. In 1997, for "Juniors" his farewell season was spent by the great Diego Maradona, whom the young footballer of "Estudiantes" could only dream of replacing in the club and in the national team.

Golden period

Everyone knows how the fans on the "Bomboner" know how to idolize their idols, and one of them at the end of the last century was Martin Palermo. Footballer helped the team to win three championships in a row, win the Copa Libertadores, and also beat Real Madrid in the Intercontinental Cup. By the way, in a victorious match against the "creamy" Palermo twice scored a goal. Later, Martin will receive the award of the best football player of the tournament and football player of the year in South America.

However, not only positive records of those golden years will be remembered by Martin Palermo. 3 penalties not scored in one match, the fans of the Argentina national team still remember with a smile on their face, and the "achievement" itself was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. Unfortunate for the forward event occurred in 1999 during a match of the group round against the national team of Ecuador. Two times inaccurate was Martin himself, one more time on the way the ball into the goal was the opponent's goalkeeper. To the honor of the player, he managed to celebrate the goal in the next match against Uruguay, than helped his team to reach the quarterfinals.

European career period

In 2001, Martin Palermo was still in Europe. The striker signed a contract with "Villarreal" and went to conquer Sample. The debut turned out quite decent, the forward continued to score goals in the Old World. However, everything changed the accident that occurred on November 29, 2001. In the second round of the King's Cup "yellow submarine" went to Valencia for a guest duel against the local "Levante". At the 98th minute of the match, El Loko sent the most important ball to the opponents' goal, and then, along with his teammates, rushed to the guest stand to get into the arms of his fans. Wishing to touch the idol was quite a lot, so a few seconds later the protective fence collapsed Martin directly on the leg. For the forward, then it all ended in a fracture and a few less serious damage, which brought Palermo out of action until the end of the season. The drama of the moment was also in the fact that a few months later the Argentina national football team went to the World Cup in Japan and Korea without its cult striker.

By the summer of 2002, Palermo had fully recovered from a serious injury, but could not regain its former condition in the coming years. And in the "Villarreal", in "Betis", and in "Alaves", where Martin performed before 2004, the forward was in good standing, but he could not score at the 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 footballer managed to hold more than 300 matches for the "Genoese". He became a true legend of the club, and in June 2011, the scrambled "Bombonera" saw the tears of a great player, saying goodbye to the team, with spectators and with football.

Confession

Martin Palermo still managed, if not overshadow the great Maradona, then at least make up for "Boca" loss of the idol. Fans in the "Bomboner", in turn, were ready to wear a football player on their hands. Not only because he scored a lot and with taste, but also for the fact that Martin scored really important goals, deciding the outcome of fights or held at the gate of principled opponents. So, for example, Martin Palermo was considered a specialist in River Plate, which for ten years in the "yellow-blue" managed to ship a whole basket of balls.

And the striker deserved respect by 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", but none of the goals to the gate of the former team Martin did not celebrate. By the way, out of 11 goals scored by the Argentine player in that championship draw, he spent four at the gate of the "Gymnasium" - the principal opponent of the "striped lions". Thus, Palermo seemed to apologize to the fans of "Estudiantes".

Another interesting episode that occurred in the Argentinean championship in May 2009, for sure, will be remembered for a long time by fans of the club "Boca Juniors". He happened in a home match against "Velez Sarsfield", and the main character of the episode was none other than Martin Palermo. Goal from 40 meters, scored by the Argentine, was the highlight of that fight, and goalkeeper Hermes Montoya for a long time could not understand what happened.

Argentina national football team and El Loco

Officially, Martin Palermo played for the national team of Argentina from 1999 to 2011, but the forward managed to hold for the "white and blue" only fifteen matches, the lion's share of which was at the turn of the century. There are several reasons for this. First, most of the career of Martin Palermo played in not the most popular clubs. Secondly, in the attack of the national team of Argentina has always been a lot of competition, so getting into the main lineup is difficult even for such "bison" as El Loko.