Marcos Llorente backs Julián Álvarez as Zanetti shrugs off rumors
marcos llorente is not the issue here; Javier Zanetti used Saturday’s mixed zone at the Santiago Bernabéu to back Julián Álvarez and dismiss the noise around his future. The Inter Milan vice president said he does not think the rumors about Álvarez leaving Atlético de Madrid will derail him before the World Cup.
Bernabéu remarks
Zanetti did not hedge. “No creo porque creo que estamos hablando de un gran jugador y, a los grandes jugadores, siempre los quieren los grandes clubes. Así que Julián es un chico muy inteligente y va a estar muy preparado y concienciado para esta Copa del Mundo,” he said after the Corazón Classic Match.
The comments came after Real Madrid hosted the event at the Santiago Bernabéu, where Zanetti returned to a stadium tied to one of the biggest nights of his career. He called it a “Hermoso recuerdo” and said the group wore the same dressing room used on the night of the final.
Zanetti and Mourinho
That return carried its own weight for the former Inter captain. He recalled the Champions League won there in 2010 with Inter Milan, and he said José Mourinho remains “una persona con mucha personalidad” who knows the club very well.
Zanetti also widened the view to the World Cup itself. “Creo que tanto Brasil como Argentina tienen mucha jerarquía para sacar estos primeros partidos y van a estar muy preparados para el Mundial,” he said, putting Argentina and Brazil in the same frame as the tournament begins to take shape.
Argentina's World Cup core
His praise did not stop there. “Nico Paz puede ser clave. Es joven pero creo que este Mundial le viene muy bien para demostrar toda su jerarquía. Argentina tiene también a Lautaro Martínez, que es un atacante que, seguramente, tendrá muchas ganas de hacer un gran Mundial,” Zanetti said, naming two players he sees as central to Argentina’s campaign.
The message around Álvarez was the clearest of the afternoon: the transfer chatter should not change the way he prepares. With the World Cup approaching and clubs still linked to him, Zanetti’s view was that the Atlético forward has the profile to handle both tracks at once.
