World Cup winner Alejandro Gómez is currently training with Serie B side Padova, awaiting the end of his doping ban on October 18. In an interview, he looked back on his time at Atalanta, shared stories about Lionel Scaloni and Cristian Romero, and talked about his feelings of returning to the pitch.
What was your time with Scaloni like?
Gómez is the only player in Argentina’s 2022 World Cup squad who has played as a club teammate with Scaloni. He said with a laugh: “It makes me realize how old I am.”
He recalled that Scaloni was on the fringes at Atalanta back then: “Scaloni was on the fringes, but he trained extremely hard—he’s an extremely professional person.”
In addition, Gómez mentioned that the two had a close relationship: “When I joined Atalanta, I lived next door to him. He helped me a lot from day one, whether it was buying a car or renting an apartment.”
You recommended Romero to the national team—how did that happen?
Gómez also talked about how he recommended Romero to Scaloni: “From day one, we all said ‘this kid is a beast.’ At that time, Scaloni was looking for a center-back, so I told him ‘take Romero—he’s a talent, and he’ll get even better under Gian Piero Gasperini.’”
He also shared a funny story about Romero: “I always used to wind him up. I’d say ‘you won’t even get near the ball against Edin Džeko today,’ but Džeko ended up doing nothing. When we faced Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martínez, I said ‘you’re going to get destroyed today,’ and he replied ‘I’m going to shut both of them down’—and he actually did stop them from playing their game.”
What’s your mindset about returning to the pitch?
Talking about his two-year ban due to inadvertently taking cough syrup (which led to a positive doping test), Gómez said frankly: “I really didn’t know if I could come back. Going through something like this at 25 is completely different from at 35. But I kept training the whole time.”
He admitted he still feels the punishment was unfair: “Some people get banned for just 6 months for taking drugs, but I got banned for two years because I drank my kid’s cough syrup—who can understand that?”
When asked why he chose to join Padova, Gómez said it was out of a sense of responsibility and conviction: “The belief that keeps me going is: why should I be forced into retirement like this? I want to say goodbye on the pitch by my own choice, and I also want to set an example for my kids.”
Finally, he summed up: “What surprises me is that some people disappeared, while others unexpectedly stepped up to support me. There have been both good and bad surprises.”
