Bolivia-Argentina: Exequiel Palacios, the figure who deployed the football that had...

Relegated at Bayer Leverkusen, Contrary to the Argentine national team due to River’s injuries and commitments in the Copa Libertadores, Exequiel Palacios had a lot of football in store. A need to express themselves with the ball that asked for court. The desire to play, to remind everyone of the very good midfielder he is, to feel useful as a partner for defenders and forwards.

Perhaps he would not have started if Marcos Acuña was not injured. The opportunity that he waited for so long did not come to him in the most propitious setting: in the 3,640 meters of La Paz, even the best players can go unnoticed. They are consumed between drowning and fatigue. It was not the case of Palacios, who played the 97 minutes with energy, class and intelligence. It emptied itself until it became the 2-1 figure in La Paz, a triumph that had not occurred since 2005 and that for Argentina always it has special trim, associated with courage and fortitude to tame the devastating effects of height on physical resistance. A victory built on its own merits and on the weaknesses of a Bolivian football immersed in a strong setback, which is no longer worth even the orography of the altiplano to compensate for the absences of the footballers of Bolívar and Jorge Wilstermann. A shortage that leads him to turn to Carlos Saucedo, a 41-year-old starting forward.

Lionel Scaloni had words of recognition for Palacios after the game: “In Exequiel I found a great player. We hope he continues like this and plays for his club. We appreciate it, we know what it can give, we are very happy. “

Driving and passing in the goal of Lautaro Martínez

The assessment that the coach makes of the Tucuman is not opportunistic due to the performance of this Tuesday. He included it in his first list of summoned, more than two years ago, when a profound renovation began, especially in the middle line, starting from the outputs of Mascherano, Biglia, Banega, Enzo Pérez.

Scaloni’s first game of the cycle was a 3-0 win over Guatemala in Los Angeles. That night, Palacios was located inside the right, next to Leandro Paredes, the irreplaceable footballer of reference for Pujato’s coach. His consideration for Palacios was always high and remained, despite the fact that a tear left him out of the squad that obtained third place in the Copa América in Brazil 2019. Nor did Scaloni doubt his almost no participation in Bayer Leverkusen, where in the last Bundesliga he only played 177 minutes in three games and in the current one he still hasn’t played. He hadn’t completed a match since February.

Anyway, you have to pay attention when the coach says that he expects me to play for his club. He is concerned about the inactivity of some footballers, so he let them know. Nicolas Otamendi he ran the risk of falling in some calls if he did not change his substitute status in Manchester City for that of starter in Benfica. “We do not value the players by the league they are in, but by their performance”, Scaloni said, days before meeting the squad for the start of the playoffs.

Palacios showed against Bolivia that he is not a player covered by cobwebs. Although he is only 22 years old, the current intensity of football sometimes leaves the one that comes with little shot exposed. It did not happen in this case. He started as an inside on the left, a starting point to go out to press, do relays, dispatch clean passes, connect with forwards and defenders. A spare wheel, a transmission pulley so that Argentina would never slow down. Even in an environment that stifles and limits travel, Palacios did not stop showing himself as the midfielder that modern football demands.

Being good, the numbers on your worksheet are not enough to measure your contribution: he won 9 individual duels, counted 65 touches, 12 recoveries, gave 49 passes with 90 percent accuracy, generated a scoring chance, received five fouls and committed three, the last one almost in discount, when he was exhausted and was booked. Each of his passes interpreted the needs of the team and the game: It could be to pause or break rival lines in search of teammates in offensive positions.

Its versatility and ubiquity are a treasure. When Nicolás Domínguez replaced De Paul, he passed to the right. Of the six players who made up the shuttlecock line and the attack, the only ones who completed the 97 minutes were Messi and Palacios. For Scaloni it was as untouchable as it was in River for Gallardo, that until now has not found a replacement. When at the beginning of this year he went to Germany in a transfer for 17 million euros, the Doll, the technician who put him in and supported him in the first division, first put together a reengineering with three defenders and now he is betting on Julián Álvarez. It is not by chance that to replace Palacios he went from a defender to a forward. There are not too many players who meet the mixture of attributes to respond equally in their own field and in that of the rival. The tucumano from Famaillá is one of those exceptions. It had been more than a year that he had not played for the national team, from 4-0 to Mexico in a friendly. He returned in a big way, with class and sacrifice.