Adrián Martínez and his “Maravilla” numbers: the slightest thought of the scorer who wants to support Racing’s hope in the South American championship

He could be a character from El Marginal, he also has a nickname that would fit that detective series created by Sebastián Ortega. But Marvelous it is not God, Blood sausage OR Pantherprotagonists of fiction. Adrián Martínez was imprisoned by mistake. Ten years ago, exactly, he spent 7 months in the Campana prison. The same city where he was born and where on Tuesday, before boarding the plane to Paraguay (this Thursday at 9pm he will face Sportsman Luqueño), opened a courthouse complex on Route 6.

How did this 31-year-old striker go from prison to become the League Cup’s top scorer, a privilege he shares with River striker Miguel Borja? Their numbers are extraordinary. He scored 10 goals in 12 dates of the national tournament and only needed 13 shots on goal. Its effectiveness is remarkable. In total, he has 11 shouts in 13 matches, adding the one that opened his account against San Martín de Burzaco for the Argentine Cup, no less than 9 in the last 9.

In the First Division alone, counting the matches played in the top category with Instituto, he has 29 goals in 54 appearances (0.53 on average). And in the League Cup he scored two hat-tricks in just a dozen games. The first was against San Lorenzo, in the 4th round classic. The second was recorded this Saturday, in Santiago del Estero, where Racing beat Central Córdoba 3 to 1.

“God took me off the streets, gave me the chance to play and today he blesses me in this way, the truth is that everything I’m experiencing is wonderful,” he says. Marvelous, a nickname that has to do with Sergio, the boxer, but which fits his fantastic performance. After all, if goals are love, Martínez has won over the fans Academy. And even if Gustavo Costas is doubted by the disparities of the team, which has not yet secured a place in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, we must recognize the wisdom of asking this footballer with an itinerant past who exploded in Alta Córdoba.

Costas, who had long experience abroad, knew him from Paraguay. With the Libertad shirt he played 86 matches and scored 22 goals. To the Gumarelo He arrived in 2018 thanks to the 12 shouts scored with the Sol América shirt. And he had a fleeting appearance at Cerro Porteño and a season in Curitiba until arriving at Instituto, already with the pass in possession, at the beginning of last year.

What preceded the five seasons of Asunción was the path of Ascension. Marvelous He started well from the bottom, if he had also been a garbage collector and a bricklayer. He did not create inferior divisions. After leaving prison, where he was involved in a raid that involved him in an alleged family revenge, he ended up at the Social Club Las Acacias, of the Campanense League until a test at the Defensores Unidos de Zárate, then active in the First C, gave him a ‘opportunity. There was only the daily allowance, of course. He had left behind a short passage through Villa Dálmine.

Without training, Martínez built his career with sacrifice. Even in Atlanta he showed his strength and even scored a goal against River in the Argentine Cup. After crossing the red clay, Brazil and Córdoba, with a negligible investment for a scorer of his characteristics (2 million dollars), Racing made the most of its best asset. The move to a heavy team didn’t weigh on him, unlike Maxi Romero who left Avellaneda amid criticism and today is a scorer for Argentinos Juniors.

In 194 games, he scored 69 goals. More than interesting numbers for a striker who usually plays as a “9”, he is a good reference in the area, but far from being static he is characterized by his power, he plays well with his back turned and launches spaces judiciously.

In return he has just one assist: it was against San Lorenzo, the night of his three goals, when he assisted Facundo Mura. He has the bow between his eyebrows, of course. He wasn’t the only great to score it; furthermore, at Independiente (1-0 victory at the Libertadores de América) and at Boca (4-2 defeat at the Bombonera).

This Thursday, against Luqueño in the debut of the South American, he will share the attack with another Martínez, Roger. But Marvelous You don’t need your last name, so common in the phone book, to stand out. Enough with the goals, those that push Racing and will try, as the motto of the Cup, to conquer glory.