Dancing Like Papu: On Stamping Gomes in Seville

Sevilla’s threshold of optimism soared by tens of percent this week, following the surprising signing of Alejandro Papo Gomes, the fantastic Argentine midfielder. Whoever was the captain and biggest star of Atlanta, the Italian team that continues to amaze Europe, is already in Spain and already wearing the white-and-red uniform of Sevilla.

Sevilla have two main goals this season: to finish in the top four in the league, and right now they are right there, in fourth place, and to get as far as possible in the Champions League. It’s not a simple matter for a team that has become the undisputed queen of the Europa League, but has not really succeeded in recent years in the Champions League.

On February 17, Sevilla will host Borussia Dortmund in the quarter-finals, and with Gomes in the squad, it is clear to everyone that its chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals are much greater. Still, this is a player who led Atalanta, a team smaller than Sevilla, to the quarter-finals last season.

The game against Dortmund will come exactly two days after Gomez celebrates his 33rd birthday. Not a very young age, but for the Argentine midfielder, and also for Sevilla, who paid only 5 million euros for him (and another 2 million according to achievements), age is not an issue.

This week he said: “Today the footballers’ careers are longer. If you take care of yourself and do not go through serious injuries, it is no problem to play until the age of 38 or 39.” By the way, Gomes’ contract is until June 2024, when he will be 36 and a half years old.

What is surprising about the whole story is of course Atalanta’s decision to give up a player at the level of Gomes, one of the best in the Italian league in recent years. He joined the team from Bergamo in 2014 when it was on the verge of relegation to the second division, and was one of the main responsible for becoming a top team, a team with the best attack in Italy and one that is also successful in Europe. Beyond leadership he has contributed 59 goals and 71 assists.

Also this season the low-rise tie, just 1.67m, has a great opening. The highlight was on November 25, just two months ago, when his previous team beat Liverpool 0-2 at Anfield, with a record display by the Argentine magician.

Then the mess began. In the halftime of the home game against Danish Midland, in early December, Gomes verbally confronted coach Jean Piero Gasparini. To everyone’s surprise, Gomes did not rise to the second half. It was clear to everyone that this was more of a momentary confrontation.

Although he was in the squad for the next game, against Ajax, by this time the relationship between Gasparini and his captain was already severed. An argument that started over tactical matters, heated up and turned into an irreparable rift.

In the game against Fiorentina Gomes remained on the bench and was not a partner, and on 16 December, against Juventus, he came on as a substitute. This was Gomes’ 252nd and final appearance in the Atlanta uniform. After this game he informed the club president Antonio Parkasi that he wanted to leave.

Even when it was clear he was on his way out, the confrontation with Gasparini did not end. The coach said “Gomes did not agree to adapt to the tactical changes that were needed. He did not do what was required while Remo Proiler helped a lot more.”

Gomes did not keep quiet and posted a series of stories on Instagram in which he showed some cases in which he went down and helped the back ties in the defensive work. “It never occurred to me that I would leave Bergamo,” he wrote to fans after the decision was made. “I was sure I would end my career here. My time at Atlanta was an experience I was willing to go through another 1,000 times.”

But it’s all behind him. True, he has not played for a month and a half, and has not been on Atalanta’s squad in its last 10 games, but he is in good shape and there is a situation that will be shared tomorrow (Saturday, 15:00) in Sevilla’s away game against Ibar.

Sevilla coach Julen Luftaghi is of course happy with the addition of Gomes, who adds more depth and sophistication to his excellent team at the link. To a large extent it will fill the hole created when Aber Banga left just a year ago for the Saudi team Al Shabab.

Banga played three years at Sevilla and was the main screw in the link. The media in Spain was quick to compare the two. Gomes said: “It’s a compliment to be compared to a banga. I admire him and know him for many years. We played together in Argentina’s youth team and won the World Cup together. We are different players, but we are both leaders, know how to take responsibility. I think that’s what characterized me in all teams. I played. I like being with the ball, being the one who sends the crucial dedication. “

In an interview with the Spanish media, Gomes said that it was a great pride for him to play in Sevilla, a team in which so many Argentines played before him. “Maradona played in Sevilla and I am of course proud to wear the shirt that Diego wore.”

But with all due respect to Diego, Gomez’s great idol as a child was Pablo Aimer, whom he saw at the beginning of his career at River Plate. And the truth is that he is very reminiscent in his style of play of “El Pajaso” (the clown) Aimer, who was also not very tall, only 1.70 m. “I always wanted to emulate Aimer, also because of the height. I always looked at the short players like Sevilla, Ortega, D’Alsoandro.”

Gomes began his career with the small team Arsenal de Sarandi, which stunned all of South America and won the 2007 Copa Sudamericana. After defeating River Plate in the semifinals on penalties, Arsenal defeated the Mexican Club of America in the doubles final, which was then coached by the former star of Maccabi Haifa, Daniel Brailovsky.

In the first game, at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City and in front of 100,000 spectators, the 18-year-old Gomes stunned with a pair of goals in a 2: 3 victory. In return they did not score, but Arsenal won the trophy thanks to their away goals, despite losing 2: 1.

That same year Gomes was also a partner in the young team winning the World Cup in Canada. The stars were Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria, but Papu also had a part in the win.

By this time he was already a star in Argentina and the one who kept an eye on him was Diego Simeone, then the young coach of San Lorenzo. In 2009 San Lorenzo paid him two million dollars – half of his ticket – and the consideration was 8 goals in the 2009/10 season. Gomes recounts: “Simeone was a very important figure in my career because he advised me when I was rebellious. When I was 20 I wanted to do things my way. If I did not like something, I did not keep quiet, which got me in quite a bit of trouble.”

“Then Simeone told me that when I go to Europe I will not play as a striker, but as an extremist. I told him that if I played in the wing I would get tired, because I did not like to help the defense. “I adapt to European football. I admire him.”

When Simeone went on to coach Italian Catania, he took Gomes with him. It was July 2010. Gomes played in Catania for three years and although he was one of the best on the team, it was clear he had to move on. Suggestions were not lacking: Inter, Fiorentina and even Atletico Madrid, which was already coached at the time by mentor “Cello” Simeone, were interested. But Gomes surprised when he decided to move to the modest Ukrainian team from Talist Kharkov. The reason was financial. No one knows the exact amounts, and probably not everyone was “white”, but the brief affair with Ukrainian football ended after only 24 games. Gomes left Ukraine when the war with Russia began and refused to return.

On September 1, 2014, hours before the transfer window closed, Atlanta decided to sign Gomes, unaware then that this was one of the best deals in its history. His and his team’s big break was in the 2016/17 season, when his position at the link scored 16 goals and Atalanta finished in fourth place. He was named captain and in the 2018/19 season, Atlanta finished in third place, the best in its history, qualifying for the Cup final and the Champions League. Last season, too, he was passionate, finishing as the cooking king of Serie A with 16 assists. Some of the media chose him as the player of the season.

What characterizes Gomes is the ability to play almost any role in linking and attacking, both in the middle and on the wings. When asked how he defines himself he coined a new concept: “the second imaginary pioneer”.

And when Sevilla already have on the offensive edge the great Moroccan striker Joseph Ann-Nasiri, the king of Spanish league goals at the moment, with 12 conquests, the addition of Gomes arouses immense excitement among the fans in Andalusia.

Beyond the gates, everyone is waiting to see him perform his famous dance, in which he bursts out after every time he scores. “It started when I collaborated with some YouTubers in Italy to help set up an academy for disabled children. It started as something innocent, but became a huge hit mostly in Italy, and in fact all over the world,” he says. The hit “Baila Como El Papu” (Dance Like Papu), which DJ Matrix performs has already received 45 million views on YouTube.

“We won a gold record and a platinum record. We never thought it would reach such dimensions, but I’m very happy,” Gomes said, adding: “Sometimes it was already tiring, because on my kids ‘friends’ birthdays they only played this song instead of children’s songs.” .

So yes, Spain is definitely ready for the arrival of the fiery Argentine star, and it’s only a matter of time before “Papo’s Dance” becomes a huge hit in La Liga as well.