Hugo Orlando Gatti

Hugo Orlando Gatti (Carlos Tejedor, Buenos Aires; August 19, 1944) is a former Argentine soccer player who played in the goalkeeper position. He stood out at C. A. Boca Juniors.

He is the holder of two Argentine football records: the one for the most matches played in the First Division (765 matches) and the one for the most penalties saved (26 in total, shared with Ubaldo Fillol).

He is considered one of the best goalkeepers in the history of Argentine football and one of the great idols in the history of Boca Juniors, where he won six titles, being instrumental in the first Copa Libertadores de América won by the "xeneize" team. » in 1977, since in the penalty shootout he stopped the shot of Vanderley, captain of Cruzeiro.

He played a total of 548 games with Boca, thus becoming the goalkeeper with the most appearances in the history of that institution and also one of the best goalkeepers in the history of the club, where he remained until his retirement in 1988. His rivalry with Fillol was historic, among other things because he was from Boca and Fillol from River, added to a certain "duel of styles" (Fillol, serious, and Gatti, fun; Fillol, confident between the sticks, and Gatti, playing like one more defender; etc.).

He currently resides in the Salamanca neighborhood of the city of Madrid. He usually participates in sports programs, both in Spain and Argentina.

Career

The beginnings in Bohemia

Gatti emerged in the lower divisions of Atlanta and soon stood out for his eccentricity in the goalkeeping position. Far from limiting himself to defending the goal, he had the habit of going out to cut play outside the area, using his feet and even taking throw-ins. He was also characterized by strong self-esteem and a remarkable abundance of elocution. As he admired him, Cassius Clay liked to promote himself with loud statements in which he invariably claimed to be the best in the position. In 1976 he recorded an album that was a great success, 'The Gatti Follies'. The popular song that is still sung on the fields is titled 'You're going straight to the World Cup'.

He debuted in Atlanta in 1962, in a match that faced the "bohemian" with Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. Gatti played 38 games for Atlanta until he was acquired by River Plate in 1964. He played 93 games for River between 1964 and 1968, alternating in the First Division with the legendary goalkeeper Amadeo Carrizo, until he was transferred to Gimnasia y Esgrima, the club where he played. 244 games between 1969 and 1974. In 1975 he joined Unión de Santa Fe at the express request of technical director Juan Carlos Lorenzo, fulfilling all the expectations generated. That great season would definitely mark the beginning of success in his career.

The arrival at Boca Juniors

The following year, Toto takes over at Boca Juniors and asks Gatti as his first reinforcement. After tough negotiations between presidents Alberto José Armando de Boca and Super Manuel Corral de Unión, Gatti landed in La Ribera.

The titles

In the first year it was essential to win the two championships. First in the Metropolitan Tournament and then in the National Tournament, defeating none other than River in a historic final played at the Racing stadium. And even more notable was his participation in the first Copa Libertadores won by the club in 1977 in whose final he stopped the decisive shot by Cruzeiro Vanderley's player. The following year Boca Juniors retained the Libertadores, and became champion of the Intercontinental Cup against Borussia Mönchengladbach with another great performance by Gatti in the match played in Karlsruhe, which the Argentine team won 3-0.

At the beginning of 1981 Gatti lost ownership to Carlos Rodríguez. The team, whose figures were the recently incorporated Diego Maradona and Miguel Brindisi, was a great candidate for the Metropolitano title but halfway through the second round it had begun to falter. In the match against Estudiantes de La Plata, coach Silvio Marzolini decided to return the starting position to Gatti after a long talk with Rodríguez. The Loco did not disappoint him: after a big error in a start that was providentially corrected by Roberto Mouzo, he ventured out of his area again to cut a long ball, he continued with the ball until the halfway line. field and gave way to Perotti who, after a run down the left line, scored the only goal of the match. From that day until the end of the championship, Gatti did not leave again and Boca conquered a new star.

His last years and retirement

The 1980s were difficult for the club and Gatti accompanied these ups and downs with periods of inactivity. In 1987 he celebrated 25 years in the first team as an undisputed starter, beyond some occasional fouls. On September 11, 1988, Boca started a new tournament playing in La Bombonera against Deportivo Armenio. There was nothing to suggest that this would be Gatti's last game. Midway through the first half, Loco came out to cut a long pass towards striker Silvano Maciel but he miscalculated and the play ended in the only goal of the game. Coach José Omar Pastoriza took away his ownership in favor of the newcomer Carlos Fernando Navarro Montoya and Gatti did not officially set foot on a soccer field again. The decision sparked great controversy. Although a good part of the Boquense partisanship resisted it, it was supported by the leaders and the brave "xeneize" group, which did not forgive him for his recent participation in a political advertisement in favor of the then radical president Raúl Alfonsín.

Gatti resisted retirement and tried to look for opportunities in other clubs, which never came. It was said that he would arrive in Colombia to be part of the Deportivo Cali team, but the surprise was when in the tribute match to the greatest figure of Colombian football at that time, Willington Ortiz, he wore the América de Cali shirt in that friendly match. In the 1990s he organized a tribute match at the José Amalfitani Stadium due to his persistent disagreements with the Boca leadership. Finally, and after 10 years, Gatti was honored by participating as a goalkeeper for Boca's first team in the celebrations for winning the 1998 Apertura Tournament in La Bombonera.

Journalistic activity after retirement and controversies

Since his final retirement, Gatti has actively participated in the media, mainly through an opinion column in the Spanish sports newspaper As. In that area, he has generated numerous controversies. In his column in As, in 2004 he stated that if Real Madrid did not win the league he would "shoot himself in the middle of the Bernabeu." Finally the league ended up in the hands of Valencia CF. In a column during The 2006 Soccer World Cup expressed ironic surprise at the number of black players in the Ecuador team, receiving criticism from the Ecuadorian community in Spain, which judged his comments as racist.

In November 2009, on the television program Punto Pelota, where he is a regular panelist, he participated in a football debate. After a comment from the program's collaborator Irene Junquera, Gatti told her that "women don't know about soccer" and that "women should wash the dishes", and he added "the only thing missing was for women to give their opinion on football."

Gatti, as a panelist on the Spanish television program El Chiringuito de Jugones, was the protagonist of a fight with a guest of the program, Miguel Galán, with whom he almost ended up beating. This fight started due to a comment from the guest towards "Loco" which made him get up from his chair determined to look for it; The host of the program stopped him, avoiding Miguel Galán's fight with Gatti live. In 2017, during another broadcast of the same program, he had a strong dialectical confrontation (which almost came to blows) with the well-known Cristóbal Soria, outraged by the latter's comment that "footballers are nothing more than mercenaries who They play for money and sell themselves to the highest bidding club.

In February 2018, Gatti suffered a heart attack. In March 2020, he was admitted to a clinic for bilateral pneumonia caused by the coronavirus.

Penalties saved

National team

He has been international with the Argentine National Team on 18 occasions, being part of the squad that participated in England 1966 as the third goalkeeper. He was a starter for much of the process before Argentina 1978 but resigned. This benefited Ubaldo Fillol, with whom he was fighting for ownership in the national team's goal and who was in an exceptional moment. It is worth mentioning the pressure that the Argentine press exerted on César Luis Menotti for the River goalkeeper's call-up. Gatti had previously saved for the Albiceleste in the 1975 Copa América.

Participations in World Cups

World	Headquarters	Outcome	PJ	GR
1966 World Cup	EnglandEngland	Final rooms	0	0

Statistics

• Updated to the end of your sports career

Clubs

Club	Div	Season	League			Cups (1)			International (2)			Total (3)
			PJ	GR	VI	PJ	GR	VI	PJ	GR	VI	PJ	GR	VI
Atlanta Argentina
	1. a	1962	12	11	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	12	11	4
		1963	26	37	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	26	37	8
	Total club		38	48	12	0	0	0	0	0	01	38	48	12
River Plate Argentina
	1. a	1964	5	1	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	1	4
		1965	15	12	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	15	12	6
		1966	8	6	4	-	-	-	7	6	2	15	12	6
		M-1967	13	10	7	-	-	-	9	14	1	22	24	8
		N-1967	15	15	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	15	15	6
		M-1968	11	11	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	11	3
		N-1968	10	11	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	11	3
	Total club		77	66	33	0	0	0	16	20	3	93	86	34
Gymnastics (LP) Argentina
	1. a	M-1969	36	49	11	-	-	-	-	-	-	36	49	11
		M-1970	19	25	5	2	4	0	-	-	-	21	29	5
		N-1970	8	10	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	8	10	2
		M-1971	34	54	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	34	54	6
		N-1971	9	12	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	12	1
		M-1972	33	53	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	33	53	6
		N-1972	11	17	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	17	3
		M-1973	26	41	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	26	41	3
		N-1973	14	26	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	14	26	3
		M-1974	16	27	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	16	27	3
		N-1974	18	22	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	18	22	5
	Total club		224	336	48	2	4	0	0	0	0	226	340	48
Union (SF) Argentina
	1. a	M-1975	34	40	14	-	-	-	-	-	-	34	40	14
		N-1975	11	13	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	13	4
	Total club		45	53	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	45	53	18
Boca Juniors Argentina
	1. a	M-1976	23	16	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	23	16	12
		N-1976	16	9	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	16	9	8
		M-1977	19	24	2	-	-	-	12	2	10	31	26	12
		N-1977	6	8	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	8	3
		M-1978	22	24	7	-	-	-	7	4	4	29	28	11
		N-1978	6	8	1	-	-	-	1	0	1	7	8	2
		M-1979	1	1	0	-	-	-	7	3	5	8	4	5
		N-1979	14	11	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	14	11	4
		M-1980	26	42	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	26	42	9
		N-1980	14	19	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	14	19	6
		M-1981	9	7	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	7	4
		N-1981	4	5	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	5	1
		N-1982	15	18	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	15	18	5
		M-1982	35	33	11	-	-	-	3	2	1	38	35	12
		N-1983	13	13	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	13	13	5
		M-1983	31	49	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	7	6
		N-1984	6	5	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	5	3
		M-1984	11	13	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	13	2
		N-1985	1	1	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	0
		1985/86	32	39	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	32	39	8
		1986/87	41	57	12	-	-	-	5	7	0	46	64	12
		1987/88	35	46	14	-	-	-	1	0	1	36	46	15
		1988/89	1	1	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	0
	Total club		381	449	123	0	0	0	36	18	22	417	467	145
Total career			765	952	234	2	4	0	52	38	25	819	994	259
(1) Includes data from the Argentine Cup. (2) Includes data from Copa Libertadores, Copa Interamericana, Copa Intercontinental, Supercopa Sudamericana. (3) They don't include friendly matches.

National team

Selection	Year	Friendly			Copa America			Total
		PJ	GR	VI	PJ	GR	VI	PJ	GR	VI
Argentina Argentina	1967	2	4	0	-	-	-	2	4	0
	1975	-	-	-	4	4	1	4	4	1
	1976	8	5	4	-	-	-	8	5	4
	1977	4	6	0	-	-	-	4	6	0
Total		14	15	4	4	4	1	18	19	5

Statistical summary

Palmarés

National Championships

Title	Club	Country	Year
Metropolitan Championship	C.A. Boca Juniors	Argentina	1976
National Championship			1976
Metropolitan Championship			1981

International Cups

Title	Club	Headquarters	Year
Copa Libertadores de América	C.A. Boca Juniors	Montevideo	1977
Intercontinental Cup		Karlsruhe	1977
Copa Libertadores de América		Buenos Aires	1978

Individual distinctions

Gatti in popular culture

Various memorabilia objects have been created through the figure of Gatti, including several albums of figurines and playing cards during the 60s and 70s such as "Football Legends" or "Golazo playing cards" and especially in a children's toy that was called "The Crazy Gatti Ball.