Sergio Romero: the goalkeeper used to travel thousands of kilometers as a “kid”

Bernard of Irigoyen It is the easternmost city in Argentina and head of General Manuel Belgrano’s department in the province of Misiones. Sergio Germán Romero was born there, Small for everyone. Since his father was a gendarme, the family traveled 2,700 kilometers to settle in Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut. To get to great football, the teenager who at the time of the Children’s Activities Commission also loved playing basketball (he is 1.91 meters tall) like his brother, Diego, a veteran of the National League. He was observed by the people of Racing after a friendly match with the CAI boys. Then, at the age of 16, he traveled another 1,735 kilometers until he landed in Avellaneda.

Thus began the path of goalkeeper who has played more games with the Argentine national team. But his official racing activity will be short-lived. After 47 games on the substitutes’ bench between 2005 and 2007, the debut arrives, following an injury to Gustavo Campagnuolo. It was 11 February 2007, against Nueva Chicago (1-1). Then he cut three more games, with a curiosity: there were three different technicians. Against Colón (1-1) there was Reinaldo Merlo, who made his debut. But he leaves and the next date he directs Miguel Micó as an interim, in the 3-3 with Belgrano. Then came Gustavo Costas, who included him in the starting line-up on the last date, June 16, in the 4-2 draw against Godoy Cruz.

In March 2007, when the transfer was finalized, he traveled 11,500 kilometers to Alkmaar, the Dutch city of his second team, AZ. He was specially requested by Louis Van Gaal. The new club paid 1,450,000 euros for his pass (20% belonged to the CAI). He returned to Racing, said goodbye, then traveled to the World Cup in Canada and finally joined his new club. As in his childhood, his career began to travel thousands and thousands of miles.

But his days at Racing weren’t decisive for his leap into European football. They had seen him in the South American Sub 20. Is that Chiquito was called up by Hugo Tocalli in November 2006 for the youth team. He played two friendlies against Chile, on 6 December in San Juan (2-2) and on 13 December in Santiago (1-0), and was the starter in the nine games of the tournament played in Paraguay in 2007, won by Brazil and in which Argentina obtained the passport for the World Cup in Canada, where she was crowned champion.

His path has continued in Europe, until now. He played at AZ Alkmaar until 2011 (111 games, 2 titles). In August 2011 he went to Sampdoria for four million euros. He spent two seasons there, then went on loan to Monaco (2013-14, 9 games) and after Brazil 2014 he returned to the Italian club, where he completed 74 games in three seasons.

At that point he had already taken the bow of the national team. The first call was in the second cycle of Alfio Basile, in August 2007. In the middle he was Olympic champion with Messi and Riquelme at the 2008 Beijing Games, then made his debut with Diego Maradona as coach, on 9 September 2009, against Paraguay ( 0-1). He has played three America’s Cups and two World Cups. In Brazil 2014 he became a hero in the semi-final against the Netherlands, which gave Argentina access to the final, which lost 1-0 to Germany with seven minutes left in extra time. A right knee injury kept him out of Russia 2018. Subsequently, at the beginning of Lionel Scaloni’s era, he played the last two games against Iraq (4-0) and Brazil (0-1) with the Azzurri. He has reached 96. He is the goalkeeper with the most appearances in the history of the national team, and second in the World Cup, with 12, behind Pato Ubaldo Matildo Fillol, who saved 13 between 1974 and 1982.

In 2015 he ends his relationship with Sampdoria and settles with Manchester United. He spent six seasons, played little – just 61 games – but won four titles. In June 2021 he said goodbye to the English club and last season he played for Venice in Italy, 16 games.