As he left the field, Carlos Tevez shared a handshake and a quick embrace with his coach Max Allegri before appearing to angrily shout an insult towards nobody in particular. The juxtaposition of those two simultaneous events perhaps sum up the Argentinean perfectly; a snarling force of nature with an insatiable will to win who is loved, respected and revered in equal measure by all those who come into contact with him.
– #360LIVE: UCL semi-final – Bayern Munich vs Barcelona
– #360podcast: LFC’s failure and Mabkhout’s La Liga move
– FOLLOW: Scores around the world LIVE with Sport360
– GALLERY: The Champions League’s greatest comebacks
If that brief moment encapsulated the essence of his entire career, then the previous 86 minutes provided a much more detailed insight into everything Fuerte Apache’s proudest son has come to represent. Still playing with the fierce pride and passion that had helped him swap the tough Buenos Aries neighbourhood for some of World football’s most prestigious homes, he lifted Juventus to an unlikely victory over the reigning European champions.
While Real Madrid possesses the sport’s two most expensive players of all time, the 31-year-old served as a huge leveller, bridging the gap between the Italian underdogs and Carlo Ancelotti’s heavily fancied side. In a typically all-action display, he made two tackles and recovered the ball on no fewer than six occasions, setting the perfect example for his less experienced team-mates to follow. He may no longer wear the captain’s armband as he did at Manchester City, but there is no denying the fact he remains a leader, with the likes of Paul Pogba, Roberto Pereyra and Álvaro Morata aiming to match the standard Tevez sets.
As always however, the temptation to distil a Tevez performance down to a eulogy of his passion and work rate is to do him a huge disservice. He also created two scoring chances, while the opening goal of the game came when Iker Casillas was unable to hold on to a shot from the striker, spilling it at Morata’s feet and gifting the young Spaniard the simplest of opportunities against his former club. After an inevitable Cristiano Ronaldo equaliser, the two Juve frontmen would link up again, a lightning fast breakaway following a Real Madrid corner resulting in a penalty after a clumsy foul on Tevez by Dani Carvajal.
Carlos Tevez (@carlitos3210) vs Real Madrid via @StatsZone pic.twitter.com/nA2mDh6XLz
— Adam Digby (@Adz77) May 6, 2015
The eventual spot-kick was delayed considerably as Arturo Vidal and Sergio Ramos confronted Martin Atkinson with protest and counter argument, Tevez standing and waiting for the English referee to regain control. Unaffected by the melee going on around him, he would smash the ball beyond a helpless Casillas, handing the Bianconeri a lead which they would never relinquish and one which gives them genuine hope heading into Wednesday’s second leg.
Tevez had endured a much publicised goal drought in the Champions League prior to this season, one that spanned almost five years going back to his time at Manchester United, but he has ended it in emphatic fashion. Scoring seven times in eleven outings in the competition this term, his tally is bettered by only Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano of Shakhtar Donetsk. Yet Tevez is very rarely – if ever – discussed in the same breath as the first two men on that list.
He cannot hope to compete with them in terms of their other worldly scoring prowess, yet he is every inch as valuable to Juventus as they are to their respective clubs. His match-winning performance against Real Madrid was merely the latest in a long list of such displays, including the away win over Borussia Dortmund where he scored twice and created a third in an impressive 3-0 victory. Tevez has been no less impressive in Serie A – his twenty goals leading the way in the Italian top flight – while he has also weighed in with a team-high seven assists.
In all competitions he has now reached fifty goals for Juventus in just 92 appearances, a ratio that should see him mentioned alongside the continent’s best, but all too often his name is absent from such conversations. Putting aside non-footballing matters such as the third-party ownership issues with his agent Kia Joorabchian and his refusal to play for Manchester City that plagued his time in England, it is almost as if the relentless effort that typifies his play and sets him apart from his peers actually counts against him. Where Ronaldo and Messi play with a grace and ease that makes the game look effortless, Tevez visibly works hard, playing like a man who is carrying the hopes and dreams of both Buenos Aries and Turin on his shoulders, giving maximum effort for club and country in a bid to never leave them disappointed.
While that playing style resonates deeply with fans of both Argentina and Juventus – where grit, sweat and determination have long been championed over aesthetic beauty – it rarely wins prestigious individual awards like the Ballon d’Or. Yet, amid talk of a return to Boca Juniors when his contract with the Bianconeri expires next summer, that is the kind of recognition his contribution this season almost certainly deserves.
His performances in the number ten jersey have seen him continue the tradition of Juve’s most famous shirt, one worn with distinction by the likes of Michel Platini, Roberto Baggio and of course Alessandro Del Piero. The Bianconeri would not have clinched a fourth consecutive Serie A title – nor be on the brink of a Champions League Final – without Carlos Tevez, a man who is arguably the game’s most underrated superstar.
