The Pacific Classicthe duel between the teams of Chile and Peruhas become over the years one of the great rivalries in the region. Duels that have ignited their protagonists and that have written several stories in their development.
Clashes between players that have attracted attention, both for their verbiage and for the intensity with which they have been played. Incidents that, with the passage of time, lose their conflictive status and become tasty anecdotes.
Just as one of those starred José Soto, former central defender of the Peruvian national team, who added 75 appearances with the Rímac team, until his retirement in 2006.
The former player of Lima Alliance He recounted the time he argued with Ivan Zamoranoat that time captain of the Chilean team, more specifically in 1996.
According to “Pepe”, the forward was one of the “most talkative” on the playing field. He also recounted a particular encounter he had with the scorer.
“Of the brave ones I faced (Gabriel) Batistuta, with (Juan Sebastián) Verón, with (Roberto) Cabañas… The most talkative, (Iván) Zamorano. One day he told me: ‘Hey, where do you play?’… I told him, I play in Puebla, humbly,” The Peruvian’s story began on the program of his former colleague Alfonso “Puchungo” Yáñez.
In the same relaxed tenor, he continued with the anecdote: “He tells me: ‘Puebla, where is that?… I play for a white team there in Spain.’ So I answered him… Ah, you play for Madrid, right?… But who knows you?”.
While telling what happened, Soto described what the situation was like on the field, the way in which they both measured each other on the field. “Pum he gave him, boom he gave him…. And he was a male”warned the Peruvian.
Then he remembered what he finally said to the Chilean to get him out of the game. According to his version, the Chilean tried to ignore him, but he was the one who got most upset.
“Until I told him, ‘it’s okay, you will play for Real Madrid, you will be in Spain, you have played, you are a scorer, but you are Indian’… Put… After that, he followed me the whole game. “Of course, that one is brave,” “Pepe” explained.
