Lucas Beltrán, with Clarín: “I hope to be able to follow the path of Julián Álvarez, my expectations are very high”

The day after being the protagonist of River’s victory against Godoy Cruz at the Monumental, Luca Beltran took some time while resting at home to talk to on the phone clarion. And in the exchange of dialogues, the 21-year-old from Cordoba (he will turn 22 on the 29th of this month) showed maturity. He doesn’t make his head spin being the cover of newspapers and portals. He knows that it’s his moment and that he has a great chance of being definitively River’s number 9, his dream since he arrived in Núñez from the Instituto de Córdoba when he was 15 years old. And why not, to emulate a great friend that football has given him. “I hope I can follow Julián Álvarez’s path. I want to be successful in football and my expectations are very high.”said the scorer in an interview with this newspaper.

-Enzo Pérez said you are a player similar to Julián Álvarez. Do you also feel you have similar characteristics?

-It can be so. For me Julian is an example, as well as a friend. I learn things from him, I watch him all the time, I watch his movements, his playing characteristics. Juli has made a big leap, the truth is that it has been incredible to see him grow so much in such a short time and that he has achieved so many things. As he friends with him, he fills me with pride and happiness.

Although Beltrán is a year younger than Álvarez, he shares several things with El Araña, with whom he has a friendship that transcends the field, as evidenced by the photos they uploaded on social networks during the meeting they had at the end of the year after them Julián will become world champion with the national team in Qatar. Both are from Cordoba and strikers; they lived together in the boarding house of the club, where they met; they formed an attacking duo in the Reserve and made their (unofficial) First Division debut on the same day (September 9, 2018) in a friendly match against Talleres de Córdoba at the Mario Alberto Kempes.

Four and a half years after that afternoon, Beltrán begins to become the player he dreamed of being when he broke the nets in the La Agustina de Instituto property. And one of those times was from River. There, in 2015, Juanjo Borrelli saw him, who was missing a striker like Beltrán. A bull. ” And he asked them to go and look for him. Núñez’s club paid 1,200,000 pesos and the Instituto retained 10% of the fee. Al River made his Eighth Division debut in 2016 and quickly showed his potential. In fact, after two years he would already be playing in the Reserve, promoted by Luigi Villalba and at the end of 2018 he would make the leap to the First Division, in which Marcelo Gallardo made his debut. However, before this present, Beltrán had to row a lot, even going on loan to Colón, an opportunity he took advantage of as he excelled in the Santa Fe squad and wore the red armband again in the middle of last year .

-How do you live this moment, that you find yourself at an excellent level and as the team’s top scorer?

-Well, the truth is that well, happy, very happy right now with this shirt and even happier because little by little we are finding the way we work as a team and that is the main thing and what we all seek and want .

-Have you had any changes in your way of working? What is the reason for this present in which you went from being the last to the first option as an attacker?

-No, I haven’t had any changes. I always try to work and give my best in all training sessions and then whoever decides is the coach. I try to always be available to the coach and the team when they need me.

-But it shouldn’t be easy to prevail against two experienced players like Borja and Rondón…

-Not clear. But I try to push myself every day in every training session. This is my characteristic. And then there’s healthy competition, not just in my position, but between everyone. And if we’re doing well, we know the coach will give us the opportunity to play and that’s when I have to give everything.

-What kind of striker are you?

-I feel I am a sacrificed striker, who has a lot of mobility, who doesn’t concede turnovers, who works a lot depending on the team and who tries to do everything to help the performance be the best.

That sacrifice is what earned Beltrán his job. After a somewhat difficult readjustment to return to Núñez, he made a comeback in the last preseason, already with Demichelis as coach. To such an extent that he seemed to be fighting for a place with Flabián Londoño. But the Cordoban, stubborn as he is, prevailed, also thanks to his hard work and goals. He converted Rayados de Monterrey and Vasco da Gama. A warning of what he would have experienced in the last week, with four goals in three games, which add up to 10 officials in 50 games with the River shirt.

Not even Beltrán fell in love with the arrival of Salomón Rondón. He understood the coach’s choice to include a striker with a career that could also help him grow. And this was recognized by Demichelis, who praised the youth striker in the last press conference: “Beltrán never came out of the fight. What is happening to him is a reward for his sacrifice and commitment.”.

And as once happened with Fernando Cavenaghi, who asserted himself before the arrivals of Juan Esnaider and the Uruguayan Daniel Fonseca, twenty years ago, today it is Beltrán who has to experience something similar.

At the time, in early 2002, Lucas was just starting to walk. Today he is River’s top scorer and dreams of having a future similar to that of his great friend Julián Álvarez.

The profile of a scorer with a very strong mentality

Lucas Beltrán didn’t have this opportunity, that of being River’s “9” by chance, but it was the fruit of a continuous effort, which knew no pauses and stubbornness for the goal. Born into a football-loving family, his story began with the Corazón de María team (the school he attended) when he was 8 and continued at the Instituto de Córdoba, where Pablo Álvarez took him, coach of the youth. (now works at Unión San Felipe de Chile) who was Beltrán’s first coach and who also coached his brothers Santiago (category ’92) and Federico (’93).

Lucas was so involved that he was among the greats that when Federico integrated the selectives of the Institute, he, small but morrudo, accompanied him and distributed the bottles of water not only to his brother and his companions, but also to those of the First. that they trained with them. And among those footballers there was a jewel, Paulo Dybala. Little Beltrán was very close to him as the current Roma and Argentina player is a close friend of his brother Federico (they played together) and even lived for a time in the Beltrán house. And today Lucas has it as his main reference.

Like Dybala, Beltrán grew up and trained at La Agustina de Instituto. And Pablo Álvarez was responsible for the leap from the child to the field of eleven. And also to change position, given that he played as a midfielder and put it from “9”, despite some questions from Adriana, Lucas’s mother, who accompanied her son with Walter, her father, everywhere.

Beltrán stood out for being very strong mentally, which later helped him leave his native capital Córdoba. settle in the River boarding house, at the age of 15. He arrived at Núñez after scoring goals for the Instituto. Juanjo Borrelli saw it and was amazed.

The “Viking”, a nickname he earned due to his complexion, started playing for River in 2016, in the eighth division. He went to the seventh and almost didn’t manage to play in the sixth because he made the leap to reserve, where he formed an attacking partnership with Álvarez. And legend has it that they started running to rival defenders after a video that Luigi Villalba, the coach of that team, showed them, which ended in laughter. After a preseason friendly in San Jorge, Villalba let them know they were stepping back and not pressing the rival start. “I’m waiting. They look like two ladies shopping on Florida Street”Luigi fired. Aside from laughter, the youngsters got the concept. And they understood that to be on Gallardo’s radar and adapt to the pace of the Primera, they had to sacrifice more on the pitch.

And when it comes to sacrifice, Beltrán has done so in silence and with a lot of work. He went to Colón and took it as an opportunity to take off. And nine months after his return, she lives a great moment with the shirt that he loves the most, the red armband, on her chest.

Enzo Pérez’s opinion

“Lucas (Beltrán) has something similar to Julián (Álvarez) in the way he moves in and out of the area. Julián made his way here at River, he expected it and I think Marcelo (Gallardo) put it at the right time so that he could explode and be who he is today all over the world. And Lucas, if he feels how he felt and how he played, and the team goes with him, I have no doubt that he will work his way through. But I I don’t really like comparisons and blaming the boys, and even more from the club. I don’t want Lucas to take the backpack and the responsibility of what Julián was. We have to let him continue to grow and we, the greatest, are going to accompany him , has a big head and knows how to listen to the advice of those around him ».

Luigi Villalba’s opinion*

“I remember putting Lucas Beltrán in reserve because when I saw he was making the difference in his category, I tried to strengthen him to prepare him for the pace of the First Division. He’s unbearable when he doesn’t have the ball. And when River has it too because he goes into the spaces, he goes all of them, he runs at you, he doesn’t make you play comfortable, and the opposing defender stings in all directions and if he can’t stand it, he slaps you… It’s not good to face him, technically he’s good , he knows how to dribble forward, he likes to go forward in the spaces, perhaps he needed to find better choices to define, but slowly he is already finding them. It’s time to explode. And he knows that the time has come to grab the shirt and not give up more. Because before it was difficult for him because he was a kid and had players in front of a superlative level. But now he can fight it with Rondón and Borja, who are still adapting to Argentine football, which has a different dynamic, and Lucas is recovering making that rhythm, based on goals, something fundamental for a striker and also to feel important. And he still has so much to give.”

* Former River striker and manager of Beltrán in the River Reserve of the Núñez club