The Colombian soccer player Martín Zapata, also known as ‘El Gallero’ Zapata, marked history in national soccer for his particular way of taking penalties that confused the goalkeepers he faced. This made him one of the outstanding players of Deportivo Cali, one of the teams he played for.
>> Read also: This was the last day of Martín Zapata, captain of Deportivo Cali, murdered in a fight
Why were Martín ‘El Gallero’ Zapata’s penalties special?
Gerard Bedoya, former Colombian soccer player and friend of Martín Zapata, remembers that “we were surprised the first time he took a penalty, he took it with the outside edge, He is the only player I have seen take penalties with an external edge, he confused the goalkeepers“.
In the same way, former soccer player Fredy Hurtado remembers Zapata’s particularity for penalties. “He showed a certain surface of the foot and, when he went to collect, he changed it. So we, the truth, Every time he kicked we were confident that it was going to be a goal.”.
That confidence of his Deportivo Cali colleagues in his effectiveness played a trick on him in an important tournament for the sugar team. Although as captain Martín Zapata had filled the Cali team with pride throughout his years, in 1999 the loss of the Copa Libertadores fell on him.
Martín Zapata missed the penalty that defined Deportivo Cali’s victory in the 1999 Copa Libertadores
At the end of 1998, Deportivo Cali had won its seventh star in Colombian football, which led the team to compete for its place in the Copa Libertadores. The good performance of the group, whose captain was Martín Zapata, led them to play the final with Palmeiras, a Brazilian team.
That was one of the most important years in the football life of Martín ‘El Gallero’ Zapata, success was on his side. The first match of that final was won by Cali at the Pascual Guerrero stadium with a score of 1-0. The second match was in Brazil and ended up favoring Palmeiras.
The final was officially tied, which led the teams to decide the winner on penalties. In Cali everything was ready for the celebration, because no one thought that Martín Zapata was going to miss his shot, the last one and the one that would give them the victory.
>> You may be interested in: The controversial passion of soccer player Martín ‘El Gallero’ Zapata off the field
“We felt like champions. It was very hard for us because in the penalties we felt that the cup was ours. We all cried that day”, remembers Fredy Hurtado about that game. “During that entire phase leading up to the final, Martín had taken the penalties and had been brilliant,” says José ‘Cheche’ Hernández, football technical director.
The disappointment was total, they lost the title and Martín Zapata was strongly affected by shouldering the responsibility. Harold Lozano, another former Colombian soccer player, points out that “I think the goalkeeper had already studied Martín, of his different way of confusing goalkeepers.
Adding to the sadness was, as Víctor Bonilla remembers, “we left the stadium an hour later, because the Palmeiras fans did not want to let us leave, instead of celebrating they would not let the bus leave, For security reasons they didn’t let us leave. They were waiting for us to come out so they could throw stones at us.“.
