Father and Son: Juanfer Quintero’s relationship with Marcelo Gallardo

“We always try to be natural, he knows that it is my dad, I love him, I love him, I have fought like nobody, I keep alleging and arguing normally because we have that dialogue, but for me it is my father. I respect him and I love him with my life, he knows it, and I will always be wishing him the best in his career and in life,” he added at the end of 2024 the 32 -year -old footballer, who won the doll. Libertadores 2018, where he scored a goal in the final against Boca.

Finally, Quintero told an unmissable anecdote of 2019, the year in which his free kick to Racing was nominated for the Puskás Award, which was taken by the Romanian-Hungarian Daniel Zsori in a list that also included Lionel Messi.

“That goal classified as one of the best of the year. It hurt not having gone to the gala because there was a guy called Marcelo Gallardo, who is sick. We played a semifinal (NDD: The gala was the day after a game Vs. Vélez and a week before the cup semifinal against Boca) and told me that I had to stay and I could not go to Milan. I looked at him as … I had the possibility of being there … well brother, nothing happens, thanks. You are sick brother, I love you very much, but you are sick“, concluded the footballer of the Colombian National Team.

In that interview, Juanfer also recognized that “his place in the world was River”, because “he had given him the recognition he could not have after wandering in Europe and a status as a player and person.” Referring to the club as his “house”, the native of Medellín said that “it was not a secret that he wanted to withdraw there”, a more viable option with his new return to Núñez.

Some greetings can end in a lifetime hug 🤩♾️ pic.twitter.com/rv9owrbacp

– River Plate (@RiverPlate) May 26, 2020

Cruciate praise and football identification

Throughout its two stages in River (2018-2020 and 2022), Quintero totaled 19 goals and 16 assists in 97 games. After a brilliant first step, in which he was champion of America being a figure, he went to China, and after a short step by Shenzhen he returned to the club, to return to his country the following year with the Junior shirt.

But not using the red band never prevented the Colombian from talking about Gallardo. “It’s difficult when it’s so demanding, but in the end, it gets your best.

On another occasion, Quintero said that “Gallardo has no comparison” and that “he marked his life and his football.” He added: “He is my friend, there is no doubt. She is not even my friend, she is my father because my daughter tells her grandfather. When he went to Colombia, every morning he left with my daughter, they feed the animals. And my daughter asks every day about her grandfather. It’s family, really. First it marked me, and then to María José (her daughter). I marked my life. “

Although the doll himself denied that his daughter told him ‘grandfather’, at least in personal treatment, the DT at all times proved to have a weakness for Juanfer, a talented footballer with DNA River. Maybe feeling identified, he referred to JFQ as “A footballer who wakes up emotion”.

Every time he had it available, he used it. And when Quintero was physically, it made a lot of difference in Argentine football, to the point of leading one of the most important years in the history of the club.

“I don’t know if it was a weakness for him, many people say it. We have many similar things. Marcelo is the coach who marked me the most, arrived at the right time and today follows the relationship. He was our leader, guided us all and led us to achieve incredible things with the example. If he was not as he is, we would not have had the success we had. If you did not show a competitive spirit, you were not going to play and that made us had the internal competition we had on the campus, “said the former Porto in mid -2023.

And the link transcended the football, to the point that Gallardo was present for Quintero when his grandfather died, in the words of the footballer, and Juanfer was for Marcelo when he died Máximo, his father. “It is a very difficult time, it will replace it. It is a guy who recovers quickly in situations. It shows that value, that character, that decision to continue fighting it. It will have those angels that will serve a lot. We, as a family that we are, we will always be there,” said the 2023 South American champion with Racing.

Juanfer, protagonist of Gallardo’s farewell

On October 16, 2022, River received Rosario Central in a very special match. While the millionaire still had chances of fighting the title, all the attention perched on the farewell of Gallardo del Monumental before finishing his successful cycle of eight and a half years.

In the football, it was a forgettable night, because the scoundrel won by 2 to 1 with a double of Véliz, and on top of the time Quintero was expelled for pushing the referee Echenique. But despite the red card, the Colombian returned to the grass after the match for Read the doll a poem of the fans.

“Dear Marcelo Gallardo. We present the here we come to tell you thanks. Thank you for honoring this tribune, and thanks for the Labruna tie. Thank you for win Make respect for the sacred mantle, and eternal thanks for your legacy Peel the balcony that afternoon that we beat Boca.Juanfer said in an extremely emotional day for the Riverplatense people.

Surely there was no better interlocutor for that moment than one of his greatest apprentices on the court, and Juanfer put his mark on reading in a full monumental.

An expected reunion

The last time Gallardo and Quintero agreed on a court was on December 14, 2024, the day JFQ played his last game with Racing. The academy was imposed by the minimum in Avellaneda, with a goal by Maxi Salas! Another brand new (and controversial) reinforcement of the millionaire.

But before the party came the great reunion between ‘father and son’, which They melt into a big hug next to the lime line.

Since then, the topic ‘Juanfer’ was recurrent in the press conferences of the doll, which despite recognizing the validity and quality of his disciple, chose to maintain a low profile, as he usually does when talking about possible reinforcements.

Quintero, on the other hand, never hid his love for River, but also recognized the ‘pact of gentlemen’ that he established with Racing when he left the club at the end of last year, at which time he returned to his country for family problems and stressed in América de Cali.

A semester later, in conflict with the scarlet leadership due to lack of payment and with the pact behind, in his words, Juanfer will begin his third cycle in River, where he became a contemporary idol, and will once again meet his father. Quintero and Gallardo, once again together with the Red Band, as if time had not passed.