Former defender of the Argentina national team, which he defended for 12 years (2000-2011), Gabriel Milito is now a football coach in his country.
With spells at Estudiantes, Independiente and O’Higgins, he has been in charge of Argentinos Juniors since last year, a club that revealed Maradona, one of the geniuses of the ball.
On Sunday (14), during a game in which the team faced, at home, Unión de Santa Fé for the 13th round of the Argentine Championship, Milito allowed something that many fans want, but only feel comfortable with: to act as if he were the coach.
As far as I know, an unprecedented attitude; I had never seen.
In the second half, with Argentinos Juniors winning 1-0, a fan who was in the stands of the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, behind the place where Milito and the reserves were located, started to demand a substitution.
The fan noted that, by making some changes, Unión became more offensive and dominant, considering the intervention of the 41-year-old coach necessary so that Argentinos Juniors could keep their lead on the scoreboard.
The insistence was such that it caught Milito’s attention.
The cameras caught the technician heading to the chairs where the audience was and talking to an interlocutor.
Milito himself, in an interview after the match, reported what had happened.
“Who do you want to come in?”
“A steering wheel,” replied the fan.
“Perfect, I agree. Who? Tell me. Who?”
Milito wanted more, wanted a clear indication among his bank options.
“But he didn’t give me a name.”
Even so, the coach, stressing that “we are in a democracy and we can all feel like protagonists”, followed the recommendation. “We put Nico Reniero behind the wheel.”
And did the fan approve the choice? “I don’t know. But he stopped complaining and bothering me, so he must have liked it”, said Milito, good-naturedly.
Whether or not this decision was decisive for the outcome of the game – even because Reniero, the one chosen to play the role of defensive midfielder, is a forward by origin – it is difficult to say for sure.
However, Argentinos Juniors resisted the pressure of the opponent, controlled the match better and even managed, in the final minutes, to score the second goal, ensuring the triumph.
After the match, ESPN tracked down the fan who caught Milito’s attention and had his coaching day.
There was no identification of his name, who appeared to be about 60 years old, but his comment was recorded.
“Unión moved twice and had four forwards. In midfield, we didn’t stop anyone’s advance. Put someone in the middle of the field! [Mariano] Bitolo, anyone! Later, [Milito] put Alan [Rodríguez].”
Defensive midfielder, Rodríguez was put in the game in the 32nd minute of the final half, six minutes before Reniero. The left-back Bíttolo only entered in stoppage time, with the score 2-0.
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