Beto alonso

Norberto Osvaldo Alonso (Florida, January 4, 1953) is an Argentine former soccer player who stood out in clubs such as Club Atlético River Plate, Olympique de Marseille and Vélez Sarsfield, being considered one of the most important and talented players that Argentine soccer gave. Left-handed, playmaker and also a goalscorer, he generally played as an offensive midfielder or forward, a position of which he was one of its great exponents.

Named the second best South American soccer player in the world in 1975, he is champion of the Soccer World Cup, the Copa Libertadores de América and the Intercontinental Cup, in addition to winning the Argentine First Division Championship seven times, including a two-time championship and a three-time championship. Along with Ángel Labruna, Amadeo Carrizo, Enzo Francescoli, Ariel Ortega and Marcelo Gallardo, he is one of River Plate's most important generational idols and formed with Diego Maradona and Ricardo Bochini the trilogy of the most outstanding "10" of Argentine soccer during the 70s and 80s. aniversario placed him fourth among the most virtuous players in the history of Argentine soccer behind Maradona, José Manuel Moreno and Ángel Clemente Rojas. He works as River Plate's presidential and image advisor in events and public relations at a national level. international.

Trajectory

Childhood and youth

He was born in Florida, Vicente López party, Buenos Aires province, Argentina, on January 4, 1953. He lived his childhood in Los Polvorines (Malvinas Argentinas Party) until he was fourteen years old.

Beginnings in soccer

He came to the River Plate club at the age of nine at the hands of Carlos Palomino, a delegate from the lower divisions who was in charge of organizing matches in neighborhoods to find talent. He was shy and skinny, but he was always the most pampered by the institution. His start was as a left wing (No. 11), until he found his insider position (No. 10).

River Plate (1971-1976)

Alonso on the cover of El Gráfico in 1972.

With the Argentina Selection in 1973

He made his debut in River Plate's first category on August 8, 1971 at the age of eighteen, against Atlanta, which ended up winning 2-1 at Villa Crespo, promoted by the technical director Didí.

In 1972 he scored 12 goals in the Metropolitan Championship and another 9 goals in the Nacional, a mark that he surpassed with 20 goals in the 1975 Metropolitan Championship and another 16 goals in the 1978 one. The most memorable of all was against Club Atlético Independiente, when in 1972 he was thrashed by River with 7 goals to 2 at the Monumental. Running from the left to the center, following a pass from Dominichi, goalkeeper Santoro had stepped forward, and he ran on the opposite side of the ball. He went looking for it, going around Santoro who, dizzy, could not prevent Alonso, barely touching it, from putting it in the net.It was the same play that Pelé tried without success in the semifinals of the 1970 World Cup against Uruguay. That goal popularized the nickname "White Pele" as coach Didí (Pelé's teammate in the Brazil team) called him when he took him out of the lower categories in 1971. Despite Alonso's level that season, River did not manage to get out champion: finished fourth in the Metropolitan Championship and second in the National

In 1973, after executing an admirable free kick that slipped past West Germany at an angle in a match won by Argentina 3-2, he was excluded from the team by coach Omar Sívori due to a blood glucose problem in his blood that kept him away from the courts to the point that River could have lost Alonso, if it hadn't been for the fact that between his father and Labruna they put him back in the team in 1975. In the 1973 Metropolitan, River finished fifth. In the "A" del Nacional, River Plate, San Lorenzo and Vélez shared the first final position with 22 points each, but the first two qualified on goal difference. River, which won the interzonal match against Boca 1-0, had such a good campaign that it qualified for a final round on points with San Lorenzo, Rosario Central and Atlanta. In the first match, played in Rosario, Rosario Central won 3-1. In a fourth match against San Lorenzo, playing on Racing's pitch, River won 3-2. On the San Lorenzo pitch, River drew 2-2 with Atlanta.

In 1975 it was fundamental for River that, after eighteen years, it was crowned metropolitan and national champion. Alonso scored 27 goals in the year being the great figure of the Metropolitan tournament. That year he was recognized by the Venezuelan newspaper El Mundo as the second best South American Soccer Player of the year behind the Chilean central defender Elías Figueroa, and surpassing in the official vote figures such as Fernando Morena de Peñarol, Nelinho from Cruzeiro, Luís Edmundo Pereira from Atlético Madrid, Hugo Sotil from Barcelona from Spain, Ricardo Bochini from Independiente, Teófilo Cubillas from Porto, Jairzinho from Cruzeiro and Rivelino from Fluminense, among others.

In 1976, River reached the final of the Copa Libertadores de América, but lost the tiebreaker against Cruzeiro of Brazil 3-2 in extra time. After a meniscus problem, Alonso is transferred to Europe.

Olympique de Marseille (1976-1977)

Alonso in 1984.

Norberto Alonso celebrates the goal with the "orange hair", in the superclassical record of 1986.

In 1976 he was transferred to Olympique de Marseille, in France, where he was injured, in four months he played 17 games and scored 3 goals. Claiming a low contract and with the intention of being called up to the national team again (Menotti did not call up players from abroad), he returned to the country.

River Plate and the World Cup (1977-1981)

He returned to River in mid-1977. After a great initial semester in 1978 (15 goals in 14 games) and coinciding with a great media and popular outcry, Menotti called him to the National Team, finally leaving out of the list a young Diego Maradona. However, he was not among the favorites of the Argentine coach, who bet on his usual summoned José Daniel Valencia and Ricardo Julio Villa. He was present in the team that won the 78 World Cup. He played the first two games against Hungary, in which he entered through Valencia and was vital for the victory in the debut with a goal pass from Leopoldo Luque, who collided with the goalkeeper allowing Daniel Bertoni's rebound conversion for the final 2-1. He re-entered against France, again for Valencia, but an injury left him out of the team until the confrontation with Brazil in the second round. Still not recovered, he did not participate in the last matches against Peru and the Netherlands. After winning the World Cup, Alonso ended up falling out with Menotti, so he would not be summoned again until 1983.

Despite his increasingly chronic knee injuries, he was the great figure of River in the three-time Argentine championship achieved by winning the 1979 Metropolitan Championship, the 1979 National Championship, and the 1980 Metropolitan Championship. A year later he would also win National Championship 1981. He scored 63 goals in 142 games played during his second period at the club.

His move to Vélez came after the 1981 National Championship, when he faced the then River manager, Alfredo Di Stéfano.

Velez Sarsfield (1981-1983)

In Liniers' team he maintained his high level of play, although the successive injuries caused by his physique and style of play often left him out of the team. In Vélez he played 73 games and scored 16 goals, over two years and four tournaments (2 Nationals and 2 Metropolitans). In the 1982 Metropolitano, in which Vélez and Alonso had an outstanding performance in the first half of the tournament, he scored a historic goal for River in Vélez's 3-2 victory at the Monumental stadium. The goal was headed to his former teammate Ubaldo Fillol and is considered by many to be the first goal not shouted in the history of Argentine soccer.

The "Beto" Alonso raising the Copa Libertadores conquered by River in 1986.

In 1983 he again played a few games for Carlos Salvador Bilardo's team. He was the author of the first goal of that coach's cycle in Chile 2 Argentina 2 with which Bilardo's stage began as head of the Argentine national team.

River Plate (1984-1987)

In 1984 he returned to River by the hand of the recently elected President of the institution, Hugo Santilli, who had made Alonso's return one of the axes of his electoral campaign. He maintained his usual high performance and retired with a treble: the 1986 Copa Libertadores, the 1985-86 Argentine Primera División and the 1986 Intercontinental Cup. In the 1985-86 Argentine league, River faced Boca at La Bombonera, and won with 2 goals from Alonso. River became champion in this match, but it also gave the Olympic turn in the stadium of its eternal rival.

The crowning glory of his career was the Intercontinental Cup that he won in December 1986 in Japan, against Steaua Bucharest from Romania, in which he assisted Alzamendi for the only goal of the match.

Farewell Party

He withdrew before 85,000 fans at the Monumental Stadium on June 13, 1987, in what constitutes the first and to date the most massive farewell match in Argentine soccer. His last official match was on December 14, 1986 against Steaua de Bucharest. In 1989 he returned to the River Plate scene by taking over as soccer manager, collaborating in part in obtaining the first championship of the 1990s with Reinaldo Merlo and later Daniel Passarella as coaches.

Retirement stage

Norberto Alonso saluting José Sanfilippo in 2015.

In 1990 he was the technical director of Club Atlético Belgrano de Córdoba for 5 games. That year he was awarded the Konex Award as one of the five best Argentine soccer players of the decade, both locally and internationally. Between 1996 and 1997 he worked on television as a panelist on the two programs of the state station ATC, first on Fútbol, pasión de multitudes, hosted by Gustavo Vergara and then on Fútbol por expertos, with Roberto Perfumo and Osvaldo "Japanese" Perez. In 1997 he was a candidate for president of River Plate for the group River 97 Project Movement , in which he obtained 15.96% of the votes, remaining in second place; then in 2001 he tried again to get involved in the club's politics, this time going as a candidate for second vice-president in the Santilli-Cuiña formula who would also come in second.In 2003 he joined the program La última palabra , led by Fernando Niembro. At the end of 2010 he ventured into national political life, appearing alongside Eduardo Duhalde in the latter's launch for the 2011 presidential elections. After River's presidential elections in 2013, Alonso was appointed football adviser to the president-elect, Rodolfo Donofrio.

Election results

1997

Game Style and Characteristics

Alonso was one of the withering appearances of Argentine soccer. A player with an exquisite and fantastic style, left-handed or ambidextrous, he brought together an extraordinary set of virtues: skill, panorama, mastery of spin for an exceptional punch, jump and header. He participated in the assembly of the game and came to define. Former teammates, rivals, technical directors and journalists have placed Alonso's natural conditions at the level of the best footballers in history. He was an eminent set piece performer. He scored 29 goals for official free-kick tournaments and ranks fifth among the Argentines with the most goals by that means in history after Maradona, Lionel Messi, Manuel Pelegrina and Daniel Passarella. He scored another 47 from penalty kicks, ranking third in in Argentine history after Carlos Babington and Passarella and he has the third best conversion rate among those who kicked more than 40 penalties behind Orestes Omar Corbatta and Babington. In lower divisions he was a left winger, but shortly after his debut, due to his characteristics, Didí placed him in the position where he was established, as number ten. Later in his career, he came to occupy midfield and forward positions. At first he was criticized for his excessive individualism and that he sometimes dramatized based on the constant infractions that were committed against him, but he was gaining in maturity and consolidating his personality.

Quotes about Alonso

Maradona and Alonso together on the cover of El Gráfico, 1984.

Football...What is football? Gentlemen, this: a pibe that plays like Alonso. That's football.

Osvaldo Ardizzone.

At this time the best players in the world are Teófilo Cubillas, Güenter Netzer and Norberto Alonso. They say that Alonso is a fix for me, but the truth is that with the left leg he does things that I in my best way could not do.Enrique Omar Sivori, technical director of the selection in 1973, after the triumph of Argentina over Germany for 3-2 in Munich.

I never blamed Beto for having to leave the selection in '78, he was going through an exceptional moment, and if he came, I had to go. For me it must have been a headline, it was a reality and I say it as a public, the same way I went out to celebrate after winning Holland. The team was missing something and Beto could give it to him, I don't know, that'll only be explained by the Flaco Menotti someday.

Diego Maradona

They talk about Maradona and Messi, and I think they're both fantastic players. I faced Maradona, but not Messi... And I take advantage of highlighting a third Argentine player, who was the Beto Alonso. It was 10, too, and I was an extraordinary footballer. After Maradona and Messi, the best Argentine I saw was Beto Alonso.

Paulo Roberto Falcão

The best number ten I saw in my life were Rivelino, Beto Alonso, Maradona and Platini. Each with his own: the simplicity of Platini, the change of Maradona's rhythm, the elegance of Alonso and the panorama and the glue of Rivelino.

Néstor Gorosito

Alonso was not Diego (Maradona) because Diego existed.

Jorge Rinaldi

The first match I saw here (in the San Mamés) was not European. River came to a summer tournament. I saw a glorious performance of Beto Alonso, a myth in Argentina. And I was recorded an action: I drew Fillol, tall, very high, Alonso leaned on the mark and stopped the ball with the outside of the foot, and was playing like a dancer. And there was in the tribune a physical preparer of the Athletic who stood up and said: "Look at this, 'cause they won't see him again.". And I was very proud of my argentinity. Jorge Valdano 

River was a goalmaker. Whenever Alonso was overwhelmed with that left-handed crochet and bucket needle, surgeon and sable scalp scalpel, torero and artist's brush, Stradivarius and electronic computer, a paralysing cold would cut the spinal cord of the stadium. We were all trembling, with that excitement that produces subtle and penetrating, visible and positive football, of which we have so many times enjoyed in that stage mass, when River's 10th headquarter had another human filler (Moreno, Labruna, Sivori) and the same vital transmission capacity for the tribunes and the network. When Alonso was with Morete and Morete, he entered as a trombone, treading rivals and shaking deadly auctions, the stadium exploded in a thousand pieces.

Julio César Pasquato (Juvenal), chronicle of the River 7 - Independent 2 party of 1972 for the magazine El Gráfico

Alonso marked a fantastic time in River and that's why he's still an idol. I ran it in Velez; I always liked that kind of player. Not for nothing I took Boca to Marito Zanabria, who was a replica of the Beto.

Juan Carlos Lorenzo

River has a tradition that men made, a tradition that is not bought and that is history: He always had a character: Bernabé, Pedernera, Charro Moreno, Labruna, Sivori, Ermindo... I saw several of them and I realized that the falling in love with Alonso's left was different. Everyone. Onega and even Labruna. You know why? He was an idol before being a champion, people took him as a flag from the first day he saw her. I remember well, if the team lost an alternative, shout Alonso, Alonso...

Cesar Luis Menotti

In that Cup (from 1986) he entered to throw some tremendous balls Alonso, which apart from his quality was one of the bravest football players I met. A born winner.

Héctor Veira

When I grew up, my great idol was Norberto Alonso. Great Beto, one of the best ten that the world stepped on. With Pelé and Maradona there"... "Once I was with the Beto and told him that Captain Beto's ring hadn't composed her thinking about him. How would he lie to him? You can't beat a 10 majestic like him." "It's a myth that helped create Juan Alberto Badía and it's okay that it is, because the Beto deserves that and much more. A symphony.

Luis Alberto Spinetta

His goals were a painting, a work of art in general lines. Alonso did not make 'chiripa' goals, as he used to say. They weren't by chance, bounce, I didn't push the elota over the goal line. No. He executed the free shots with an amazing technique. He came to the area gambetendo or erecting walls with his peers who had to be very attentive to keep pace with his intelligence. But apart from his ability to score, he was also a leader. His attitude to play the classics, to confront Boca, is something that was always recognized. The Beto always tried to go forward, playing the same in any court, outside the rival in turn. He didn't look at the t-shirt he had in front of him, he was worried about defending his own, River's. And when you set up a game, it was a 10-plus number. Velóz, skilled, with panorama. That's why I say he could well stand out at all times. It's not a lot of football players who can say that.

Amadeo Carrizo

It was one of those players who broke the mold. No doubt, the greatest idol that River has. And I can give faith to what happens all over the country, there's no place they don't ask me about the Beto. It happened to eternity, of which I am convinced. Beto Alonso is eternal in the heart of River's swollen. And not to talk about those who saw him play. They love him.

Ubaldo Fillol

I have a scale, a personal ranking, in which the Beto occupies a place among the best 15 players in the whole story. The first one, for me, is Cruyff. And the podium is completed by Messi and Maradona... but the Beto was a monster, one of those talented ones that filled one's eyes. Zurdo, stop.

Carlos Morete

Of those I saw play, it was River's greatest idol. A monster. If at 17 I'd break it first and at 18 was a crack. We grew up together, he's a great friend, a good person. And worldwide I have it up there, among the great; but among the greatest of all... Pelé, Maradona, Cruyff, Messi, Di Stefano... the Beto was a chosen one.

Reinaldo Merlo

Clubs

As a player

Club	Country	Year
River Plate	Argentina	1972 - 1976
Olympique de Marseille	France	1976 - 1977
River Plate	Argentina	1977 - 1981
Vélez Sarsfield	Argentina	1982 - 1983
River Plate	Argentina	1984 - 1987

As a manager

Club	Country	Year
River Plate	Argentina	1989

As a coach

Club	Country	Year
Belgrano	Argentina	1990

Statistics

As a player

Clubs

Equipment	Div.	Season	League		Cups National(1)		Cups International(2)		Total		Media Shotgun(3)
			Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles
River Plate Argentina	1. a	1971	23	3	-		-		23	3	0.13
		1972	41	21	-		-		41	21	0.51
		1973	26	9	-		5	2	31	11	0.34
		1974	24	7	-		-		24	7	0.29
		1975	40	28	-		-		40	28	0.70
		1976	14	1	-		11	1	25	2	0.08
		1977	14	6	-		-		14	6	0.43
		1978	31	23	-		10	0	41	23	0.56
		1979	26	13	-		-		26	13	0.50
		1980	40	15	-		7	0	47	15	32
		1981	31	6	-		3	1	34	7	0.20
		1984	36	10	-		-		36	10	0.27
		1985	9	3	-		-		9	3	0.33
		1985-86	15	5	-		10	4	25	9	0.36
		1986-87	4	2	-		-		4	2	0.50
	Total club		374	152	0	0	46	8	420	160	0.38
Olympique de Marseille France	1. a	1976-77	17	3	1	1	2	0	20	4	0.20
	Total club		17	3	1	1	2	0	20	4	0.20
Vélez Sarsfield Argentina	1. a	1982	37	7	-		-		37	7	0.19
		1983	36	10	-		-		36	10	0.27
	Total club		73	17	0	0	0	0	73	17	0.23
Total in your career			464	172	1	1	48	8	513	181	0.35
(1) The national cup refers to the French Cup. (2) The international cup refers to the Copa Libertadores, Copa Intercontinental and Recopa de Europa. (3) Average number of goals received by parties does not include goals received in friendly matches.

Selection

Selection	Year	Friendly		World		Total
		PJ	G	PJ	G	PJ	G
Absolute Argentina	1972	3	0	-	-	3	0
	1973	6	1	-	-	6	1
	1975	1	1	-	-	1	1
	1976	1	0	-	-	1	0
	1978	1	1	3	0	4	1
	1983	4	1	-	-	4	1
Total		16	4	3	0	19	4

Participations in final phases

Tournament	Headquarters	Outcome	Parties	Goles	Assistance
1978 Football World Cup	Argentina	Champion	3	0	1

Statistical summary

Hat-tricks

Three or more goals in an official match:

Hat-tricks
N.o	Date	Stadium	Party	Goles	Outcome	Competition
1	20 February 1972	Estadio José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires	Velez Sarsfield - River Plate	PTL	3 - 5	Metropolitan Championship 1972
2	29 October 1972	Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires	River Plate - Independent of Trelew	PPP	8 - 0	National Championship 1972
3	14 April 1978	Estadio Tomás Adolfo Ducó, Buenos Aires	River Plate - Little Juniors.	P	4 - 1	Metropolitan Championship 1978
4	9 July 1980	Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires	River Plate - All Boys.		5 - 0	1980 Metropolitan Championship

As a coach

Equipment	Tournament	Season	Statistics								% Effect.
			PD	G	E	P	GF	GC	DG	Points
Belgrano Argentina	National B	1990	5	1	1	3	5	7	-2	4/15	26.67%
	Total		5	1	1	3	5	7	-2	4/15	26.67%

Honours of Prizes

National Championships

Title	Club	Headquarters	Year
Metropolitan Championship	River Plate	Buenos Aires	1975
National Championship	River Plate	Rosario	1975
Metropolitan Championship	River Plate	Buenos Aires	1979
National Championship	River Plate	Buenos Aires	1979
Metropolitan Championship	River Plate	Buenos Aires	1980
National Championship	River Plate	Buenos Aires	1981
First Division Championship	River Plate	Buenos Aires	1985/86

International Championships

Title	Equipment	Headquarters	Year
FIFA World Cup	Argentina	Buenos Aires	1978
Copa Libertadores	River Plate	Buenos Aires	1986
Intercontinental Cup	River Plate	Tokyo	1986

Awards

Filmography

He was interviewed for the documentary film released in 2019 River, the greatest ever that tells the history of the club.

The actor Hani Hatip plays the character of Alonso in chapter 2 of the series Maradona, blessed dream, broadcast by Amazon Prime Video and Channel 9 (Buenos Aires) in 2021.