Atilio García, the Argentine striker who was Gardel in Uruguay and here few recognize him

The man became a tribune. And also presence even if it is no longer there. Atilio Ceferino Garcia Perez, Moustache, is also emblematic of those who have not seen it. Those who often go to Central Park in Montevideo to see the Nacional know this: being on the South stand, the one that bears his name and surname, is a way to pay homage to that scorer who died almost five decades ago but who he lives in the corners of the stadium in the La Blanqueada district made of memory, legend, myth, desire.

It is no coincidence: his glory and his achievements in the service of The bags deserved, deserves and will deserve a perpetual homage. Atilio scored more goals than anyone else in his heyday, the 1930s and 1940s. His average goal is a feat that spans the centuries: more than one goal per game.

Despite being born in Junín, in August 1914, his unlikely campaign turned him into an all-time montevideo. It’s curious: in Buenos Aires his name sounds like an alien or distant character. A simple exercise will suffice: ask any football fan whose player they play to know a lot about the immense Atilio García. The answer is a new question: “Who?” His brief stint in Argentine football in the 1930s (he debuted in Mariano Moreno de Junín and then was a striker without bombast for Platense and Boca) and his prompt departure to the other side of the Río de la Plata in days without over time television or the Internet have become forgotten or a precious piece in the best museums.

Its size is told by a fact: He is one of four Argentine footballers capable of converting more than 300 for the same club. The comrades on the pedestal classify the undertaking: Angelo Labruna, in Fiume; Alfredo Di Stéfano, to Real Madrid; and Lionel Messi, to Barcelona.

Argentine football could not enjoy it at its best. Journalist Ismael Canaparo, in the newspaper La Verdad de Junín, recounted his time on this shore: “Recommended by his friend Mario Raúl Pajoni, a crack in Platense, he then landed in the Calamar entity, where he remained for six seasons (1931 / 36), with little luck. In that period he played 23 games and scored 12 goals. However, since Brown was tired of scoring in the reserve, Boca signed him for the 1937 tournament. But luck is not on his side even though he started few times (seven games, nothing more), he scored 6 goals. At that time, the center of xeneize’s attack had three monsters, such as Varallo, Benítez Cáceres and Roberto Cherro. impossible to playHowever, the best was yet to come from across the river.

The unanimous gaze: it was a crack

In Uruguay it was Gardel and all guitarists together. The consequence was inevitable: Atilio is one of the greatest referents in the history of the Nacional. Through the official website, the club refers to some of his sporting achievements: “He is the greatest scorer in the history of Nacional: he scored 486 goals. He holds the record for goals in a season: 52 in 1938. He is the top scorer in the classics : scored 34 goals against Peñarol. Scorer for 8 years of the Uruguayan Championship, seven of them consecutive: 1938 (20 goals), 1939 (22), 1940 (18), 1941 (23), 1942 (19), 1943 (18), 1944 (21) and 1946 (twentyone)“. On that stellar road has won seven titles. And something greater: the recognition forever, the flawless character of all epochs.

They say – more the halo of her mystery than the memories of those who saw her – that she was a goal machine. A brave striker, a great finisher, handsome. In January 1938 he made his debut: he got off the ship and scored two goals against Chacarita, in a friendly match. On one occasion, in La Plata, he managed to score two goals with a bruised forehead and a blindfold.

His journey was told by the journalist Pedro Uzquizasomewhere in this editorial office, when 1998 marked the 25th anniversary of the death of the impossible forward: “With Atilio García, the Nacional began an ascending path that culminated in the conquest of five consecutive titles (from 1939 to 1943). In that so-called Quinquennium d’Oro, in 1941 he added another feat: he won the 20 games played in the league, which was never repeated. And on 14 December he beat Peñarol 6-0, their biggest historical advantage in a classic. Perhaps the Juninense’s greatest merit was that of being the executioner of Peñarol. In 26 games, between 1938 and 1950, he scored 34 goals, with the particularity that none was a penalty or punishment. “This is why, now in every Montevideo classic, the mystery of Atilio hovers. Desire made by his national team; transformed into a ghost of Peñarol.

“He is like an old farmer, withdrawn and better than bread. He looked like a water trumpet. He was like a slingshot shot in the distance, from his distant Junín, from the pampas and from the sky, which came to burst in the middle of the heart of la city, which lives, trembles and suffers following the glorious colors of the Nacional “. This portrait of Moustache – his most famous nickname – was published in the pages of The History of the National Soccer Society, in 1950. In the same work we note a detail that exhibits the dimension of García: the club is divided into periods, before and after Atilio (1899-1937 and 1938-1950). Eduardo Galeano once wrote of the attacker’s courage with the precise stroke of his words: “Atilio was used to ax blows. They hit him with everything, his legs were a map of scars”. But she didn’t stop, Atilio. The only fate he tolerated was the goal.

His story also has magic. They tell it on the streets of Montevideo as if it were an everlasting truth. The founding anecdote was born of a coincidence. Although he scored a lot of goals, he didn’t seem or didn’t have a crack background. He was a substitute in Boca. Towards the end of 1937 García was offered to the president of the Nacional, Atilio Narancio. The striker was part of a list of balances and clippings of players who wanted to change course. The Narancio, smiling, offered a sentence that changed history: “This is called Atilio, like me, it must be good”. In a short time she decided to hire him. It happened that he was right. Rather, it failed. The namesake Atilius was a marker destined for perpetual glory.