“We live in the same house but we don’t talk to each other.”

Footballers have the ability to be among the faces known to people. It makes sense that they overcame the kid’s dream – everyone or almost everyone – of becoming a professional player. No matter how long it has been since retirement, they are generally recognized. Carlos LeebFor example, he hung up his shoes in 2002, at the age of 57, and people still yell at him in the street. cat -also kitten-His nickname.

What also happens with footballers is that fans think they are just players, as if there is no person under the shirt. Professionalism, in addition to fame, gives money. Much more than any other regular job. he Lip Cat He had a 14-year career overtaken by a period of convertibility in Argentina, but also several injuries.

That’s why Lip only gets recognition. Silver, no. A few weeks ago, in an interview, he crudely described his economic present: Since February, after his stint in the Bolivian ascension, he has had no savings or income. They have contacted him from many clubs Chaka To propose a campaign and raise funds. He thanked him, but he refused. He’s not looking for charity, he wants to work. “Whatever,” he explains. If as a coach, he ensures a balanced team, “but very attacking,” he says. Clarion.

He left Independiente and there he suffered his first injury and after recovering he arrived at Estudiantes, where he played little due to another injury. His place was promotion and still 12 more injuries awaited him from which he spent more than four years recovering.

He played for Chacarita between 1992 and 1997, completing 126 matches and winning the hearts of the fans with 63 goals in the promotion to the Second Division Nacional. I fell in love with Undertaker. In fact, he arrived at Banfield in mid-1997 and upon his introduction to the club assumed he was a St Martin’s fan. With 52 goals in 122 appearances, these fans also adopted him as an idol after the Championship return. holes To the first division in 2001.

A year and a half before this promotion, a strange event happened in Florencio Sola: El Gato came back from (another) injury and came back to come on for a few minutes precisely against Chacarita, which was in the second division thanks to the promotion with Leip. During the warm-up, the two fans sang: “Put it on the cat, the bitch who gave birth to him.”

The end of the journey came at Ferro, in the 2002 season with the Metropolitana, in 2002. Then he began his career as a technical director practically outside the country. The battle with Banfield’s then-boss set his course: he never got a job as a coach again. “Grondona lowered my thumb.”“, he says again in the interview, as at the time.

Head in Iranin Paraguay and Perubut mainly in Bolivia. He was the last champion of the Bolivian plain Athletic boys From the lib. Because of this achievement, there was talk that he could become a coach of the national team. With some interruptions, nearly 10 years passed in the Altiplano.

“You’re so rebellious, Lip.” He tells cat What Grondona said. He called him from time to time, although one of the leaders with whom he discussed the topic of joining him as a coach admitted this to him. Don Julio I suggest he stop saying that. “I turn the page quickly. I’m not upset. When I learned that Carlos (Portel) was sick, I called him too and we agreed to have coffee, which in the end did not happen because he died.”,account.

Don Julio was somewhat correct in his statement. Aside from his good nature, he did not allow anyone, neither as a coach nor as a player, to pass him by. And in Bolivia, when he got tired of the coach suggesting the lineup and even making changes during the match, he slammed the door shut. In it Shahrdari Bandar Abbas An Iranian club owner tried to tear apart his rosary and that was the beginning of the end.

What he gained as a footballer and then as a coach, he no longer has. Bad investments, scams, loans that ended in involuntary donations, and the damage of inflation – in Argentina or Bolivia – that monetized small savings as the value of the dollar rose. He needs a job, quickly, and to reorganize his life.

So, Leap breaks away from the fantasy of good times for former footballers. He’s a regular guy who can think about charging 2,000 pesos from SUBE or hopping the turnstile at Constitución for a hot dog later. Nothing more, nothing less, much less more.

-How did you face the news rebound with news of your economic situation?

– There is no positive side: the love of people is incredible. I don’t know how to describe it. In addition to knowing who is with you until death, many people have contacted me to offer assistance, even from Bolivia. Do you know what surprised me? The call is from Walter Erviti, with whom I have no dealings, we did not know each other personally. Many people called me.

–and Concretely, how are you?

-I need a job. Because obviously I made bad deals, starting with the first one: in 1999 I started a bakery, and I was thinking about the future, and they scammed me. I fell into a very major depression. For five days I did not get out of bed, I stopped training. I couldn’t get up, my body was hurting. I cried the whole time.

-I asked for help. I don’t remember exactly how, but it was with a psychiatrist. I was close to the worst.

-Has it ever occurred to you to kill yourself?

-Yes. This idea came to my mind. Thank God I didn’t have a weapon… I was crying, crying, crying. I never told him. He was brave, he was brave. I remember my brother lying there with me after taking about 20 sleeping pills. I think this was a warning…

-This was not a time when mental health was a priority. How did your colleagues deal with absences?

-They almost cut me off. They almost cut me off because I disappeared and didn’t say anything. On the one hand, there were those who thought he didn’t want to play. I was completely cloudy. But some colleagues also came to ask questions and support me. When they found out the others came too. But I came back, and the gym was really good for me. You came back and you were a champion. We were champions… We were champions thanks to Gordo (Jose Luis “Jarva” Sanchez)!

– Now that your children are older, have you had the opportunity to talk to them and tell them about that time when you were depressed?

-Little by little. More than my children, they are my friends. I’ve always been good with them. I have this thing about being closed off, see? But now as adults, yes.

-Does anyone still live with you?

-The boys. I live with my wife, she is the love of my life. We have been married for 37 years. He is, was, and always will be the love of my life. We are in a complicated situation. That is, we live in the same house but apart. We practically don’t even talk, imagine.

-Aren’t they separated because of the money issue? Is the job search also able to move?

-I don’t know what’s going to happen… This makes it difficult because the kids are listening, and I already have adult grandchildren who are starting to understand that the grandparents don’t talk to each other. This is a difficult situation for me. I’d like to take it back, but yeah, I think if I get a job I’ll leave. I’m leaving because it will be better for everyone. Because it’s also inconvenient for my daughters who come to visit. But who doesn’t have problems, right?

-You said that you are looking for work in anything, have you worked in anything other than football?

-Of course, I need a job. If it doesn’t have to be football related, it doesn’t matter. In other words, it is a matter of life. I feel like I’m qualified, and I know I can. I started working when I was eight years old, with my father, who was a baker. He brought people and his company. When I was 10 years old, they left me at the job of Oscar Lopez (left right: former footballer, teammate of his father Felix “El Gato” Leib, also a player, and former baker), who had me screaming in the corner: ‘Diary, diary! Clarin, chronicle, newspaper, newspaper! I grab nothing. A lot of people say to me: No Gato, how are you going to do anything other than coaching, but I started my career abroad, I disappeared from football here for 16 years… and I have to work.