Lionel Scaloni, honored in Pujato: caravan for the town, which will have a street named after him, and the moved gesture of his father

“I’ll sign them and take pictures with everyone”. The promise came from the mouth of Lionel Scaloni for the large number of children waiting for him under the small stage set up in the center of his hometown, Pujato, where he returned after leading the Argentine national team to the title at the World Cup in Qatar. “I thought I already cried about everything,” added the 44-year-old DT, accompanied by “Chichita”, one of his childhood teachers.

A few minutes earlier he had traveled in a caravan, much less crowded but more orderly than the one that had lived in the city of Buenos Aires 24 hours earlier, which had to stop abruptly due to overflowing in various passages. The prodigal son of this small town of just over 4,000 inhabitants located 40 kilometers from Rosario, in Santa Fe.

That city, until now, had an unnamed street. Not anymore. And is that the municipal boss Daniel Quacquarini has publicly announced that this route located between Simón de Iriondo and Alem will be baptized as “Lionel Scaloni”.

“Walking through the streets of the town and seeing so many people that perhaps you didn’t see as a child, crying for the national team, it’s the best, it’s gratifying and this fills us with pride”, acknowledged the Albiceleste coach, who arrived in his city on Tuesday Christmas and was with his parents Angel Y eulaliaand brothers Mauro Y corinathat this Thursday will be a birthday to continue with the celebrations.

Precisely, in a subsequent press conference, he told an anecdote with his father Ángel, his first coach and who has been gradually recovering from a health problem since 2021.

“With the only hand he can raise, he made the gesture of lifting the cup. He was confident it would happen, he’d been doing it for a month and a half”revealed.

“It’s a triumph for all of us, we would have loved to cross all of Argentina with the collective, because the North, the South, the East and the West deserve it. Unfortunately it was not possible, but I hope you were all happy, because what we experienced in these days we will carry forever in our hearts, let’s create an unforgettable moment in our life“, he assured again in front of the stage.

Wearing a dark blue shirt and denim shorts, Scaloni acknowledged that in the last few hours he has begun to take on the dimension of what this generation of footballers has caused in Argentines.

“This selection played by and for the people. Now we realize a little more what has been accomplished, we were aware of what was happening here, but not on such a scale. Now that we live it, the truth has no words,” she concluded.