The Argentine from La Plata with a great career at Spanish clubs in the main was one of the biggest names to ever play in Greece and he treated us to moments we’ll never forget. And though Luciano Galetti’s fine career came to an inglorious end, at least he got the final game he’d dreamed of.
Tango is passion mixed with elegance, its movements a natural reaction to the feelings its melodies instill in us. It is Argentina’s contribution to world culture—that, and the soccer stars who abound in the land of the pampas and the gaucho. And Galetti fused the tango with football on the pitch. And if he had to dance without a female partner? Her place was taken by the ball. The sight of Galetti in action was nothing short of mesmerizing. You couldn’t take your eyes off the kiad from La Plata, the way he seduced the ball. Just like the tango, which “captivates” all those who dance it, but also those who watch the dancers taking turns to lead and surrender themselves to their pleasure.
If he wasn’t a top-class footballer, he’d certainly be one of the best tango dancers out there. And many of those who got to watch Luciano Galetti play at Olympiacos have surely long since embarked on an erotic, passionate, explosive yet melancholic tango of their own, in search of what the Argentine superstar got to experience on the pitch.
In August 2006, Marca, the Spanish sports paper, revealed that Panathinaikos had reached an agreement with Atletico Madrid for the purchase of Luciano Galetti, who was continuing the great career he had begun in Spain with Zaragoza. However, the transfer never happened, as the Argentine ace vetoed the prospect of playing for the Greens. A year later, Greece was back on the cards as Lucci’s next footballing home. This time, however, the background would be red and white. And his answer was a resounding “YES!” Luciano Galetti explained why he chose Olympiacos just a year after he turned down the Greens in one of the many interviews he gave once his playing career was at an end.
“I didn’t want to leave Atletico, I didn’t pay much attention to Panathinaikos’ offer, but when the new offer arrived from Olympiacos, which had great players like Kovačević and Raúl Bravo in its squad, and would be playing in the Champions League, I pushed the team to let me go”. As he demonstrated on numerous occasions over his career, Galetti has fearsome instincts when it comes to making the right decision. Olympiacos wanted him to play on the right wing in attack, and the virtuoso Argentine ace would fulfil the Club’s expectations—and then some. In no time at all, the Olympiacos fans’ favorite chant was “Lucci”.
Karaiskakis would hum to the rhythm of “Luciano Galetti” as the fearsome ace “danced” and had his opponents dancing, with Olympiacos in the enviable position of being able to play with Djordjevic and Galetti bookending their forward line!
‘I remember they called Olympiacos from Italy about me in 2009. My manager called me and told me there was a chance of me going to Juventus’
The Champions League doubles
Right from the start, Luciano Galetti showed what was to come… A goal in his Champions League premiere against Lazio in an empty Karaiskakis Stadium (a punishment imposed on Olympiacos) in what would turn out to be a historic season for the Club. Olympiacos would finally break the “curse” of its Champions League away games in Bremen, with Lucci in the front line. One of his greatest games in the red-and-white jersey would come in the game Olympiacos lost to Real Madrid; he scored in that incredible game, in which the Reds kept their 2-1 lead until the final minutes, despite being down to 10 men. He was crucial, too, in Rome where his goal earned Olympiacos a place in the final 16, where they came up against Chelsea. That first season ended with Olympiacos totally dominant and in possession of the double. Of course, Luciano Galetti was a key weapon in Valverde’s team the following season, too, when the Club won the double yet again.
The best final
The moment that perhaps encapsulates his career in the red and white jersey more than any other. With his trademark elegance, he bursts through and scores in the final of finals against AEK at Athens’ Olympic Stadium in 2009. Galetti’s superb goal in extra time makes it 4-3 and he celebrates wildly by ripping off his jersey. Seconds later, referee Kako hands him a red card—his second yellow card. “I never even saw the first card—that was such a stupid thing to do,” he would say years later about a Cup win he would still end up celebrated in his second consecutive double with Olympiacos.
Luciano Galetti lived the dream in Piraeus, with a total of 93 appearances for Olympiacos in all competitions, 26 goals and 30 assists. And he would have added a whole lot more, because Luciano wanted to stay in Piraeus until the end of his career. But then…
The shocker!
At his best, in the summer of 2009, Juventus makes Olympiacos an offer for Galetti. The Reds asks him if he wants to go and Lucci answers “no” without a second thought. “I remember they called Olympiacos from Italy about me in 2009. My manager called me and told me there was a chance of me going to Juventus. I told him I didn’t want to go anywhere—why go to Juventus, when I had everything I could want at Olympiacos?” he’d say years later. How could he not have refused, when he was living like a king in Greece? And he still had many years of good football ahead of him.
But Fate would play a nasty trick on him. Luciano’s dancing days were abruptly cut short. It was December 2009 when he came back from leave and underwent a series of routine tests with all the other players. The results weren’t good. Having played three 90-minute games in a single week, he went back to be examined again, as the doctors had requested.
“I’ll drop by to do the tests, then come and play,” he told his coach at the time. He couldn’t have imagined then that the match against Larissa in the Karaiskakis stadium (2-1, he scored) would be his last in his beloved red and white jersey.
Galetti stayed in hospital for 15 days; then the news dropped like a bombshell. He has kidney failure, his kidney was functioning at 30%—if he kept playing, he would be putting his life on the line. He had to quit football. What had happened? His serious kidney problem had been caused by a virus he caught while in Mexico with K17. It was water-borne—specifically, from a virus contained in some contaminated ice. He had been on antibiotics back then for a month, then played in the World Cup. That was back in 1997. In 2010, that same germ would bring his stellar career to an end before he even hit 30.
His goal paved the way for one of the Club’s most important away wins in the Champions League: Lazio 1, Olympiacos 2, on Nov. 28, 2007.
The farewell
Two years later, after a compatible donor (his father) had given him a new kidney, Lucci started thinking about football again. OFI gave him the opportunity to “dance” the tango on the pitch once more, and Galetti returned to Greece to bid farewell to the beautiful game he played so beautifully in the stadium he loved! Just as he had dreamed of doing. He walked onto the pitch in the Karaiskakis Stadium in OFI Crete’s colors on 27 October 2013. He played 20 minutes and the stands were… alight!
His favorite chant, “Luciano Galetti!”, had the Neo Faliro stadium abuzz once more. At the end of the match, Lucci announced his retirement. He had lived his dream. He would remain involved with Olympiacos in another position—that of talent scout, and his role in bringing the astounding Esteban Cambiasso to the Club truly was a mammoth contribution. But all those who got to experience Luciano on the pitch, the rhythm of the tango will always spring to mind as they pay him tribute.
