Norberto Osvaldo Alonso (born 4 January 1953), known colloquially as "Beto" Alonso, is an Argentine former football

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, who played the majority of his career for the Argentine

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

River Plate, where he won 9 titles. He remains one of their most notable players. He stands in fifth place in River Plate's all time goalscoring records with 149 goals and 7th place in their all time appearances record with 374 matches played. A former Copa Libertadores, Intercontinental Cup and

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

champion, Alonso was regularly regarded as one of the best South American players in the world during the 1970s.

Club career

Alonso was born in Vicente López, Buenos Aires province, but grew up in the poor suburb of ''Los Polvorines''. An attacking

, he rose through the ranks of River's youth divisions as the team was undergoing its infamous dry spell (18 years, 1957 to 1975, without a

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

title). When Angel Labruna took the reins in 1975, Alonso was the team's anchor and holder of the No. 10 jersey. With reinforcements Roberto Perfumo and Ubaldo Fillol, and the maturing of players like

Daniel Passarella Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

, Carlos Morete, J. J. López and

Reinaldo Merlo Reinaldo Carlos Merlo (born 20 May 1950) is an Argentine football coach and former player, who played as a midfielder. Playing career Known as ''Mostaza'' (mustard) because of his off-blond hair, Merlo played his entire career for Club Atlético ...

, Alonso led the squad that won both the

Metropolitano Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services i ...

and the Nacional tournaments of 1975, ushering in a series of seven local titles in the period 1975–1981. In 1976, Alonso was transferred to

Olympique Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...

, but he was unsuccessful. River Plate arranged for his return in 1977. Between the years 1979–1981, River won four local titles, and became one of the most expensive teams in the world, with a first team (Alonso-

Luque Luque () is a city in Central Department of Paraguay, part of the Gran Asunción metropolitan area. Both 1635 and 1750 have been recorded as dates of its founding. It was temporarily the capital of Paraguay in 1868 during the Paraguayan War b ...

) playing in league games and an equally prestigious second team (Carrasco-

Ramón Díaz Ramón Ángel Díaz (born 29 August 1959) is a former Argentine footballer and the current manager of Saudi Professional League club Al Hilal. He played for River Plate as a striker, and coached it for three tenures, winning eight titles. ...

) used mostly in Copa Libertadores matches. During the 1981 "Nacional" tournament (which River would eventually win), Alonso often clashed with then coach

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Fil ...

(who seldom selected him for the first team and instead put younger players such as Carlos Daniel Tapia and José María Vieta in his position). After the ''Nacional'', Alonso was put on the transfer list and was sold to Vélez Sársfield on 1982. After playing alongside veteran

Carlos Bianchi Carlos Arcesio Bianchi (born 26 April 1949), nicknamed ''El Virrey'' (''The Viceroy''), is an Argentine former football player and manager. A prolific goalscorer, although he had a bright career as a forward in Argentina and France, Bianchi is ...

, he returned to River Plate once again for the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

season. Many talented midfielders emerged from River Plate's youth system during Alonso's reign, including

Alejandro Sabella Alejandro Javier Sabella (; 5 November 19548 December 2020) was an Argentine football player and manager. Born in Buenos Aires, he began his playing career with River Plate in his home country before moving to England in 1978 to play for Sheff ...

Néstor Gorosito Néstor Raúl Gorosito (born 14 May 1964) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of Gimnasia La Plata. Playing career Néstor ''Pipo'' Gorosito began his playing career at Rive ...

and

Pedro Troglio Pedro Antonio Troglio (born 28 July 1965) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of Honduran club CD Olimpia Playing career During his career as a footballer, Troglio played for ...

. Alonso was a key player of the successful team of 1985–86 that won River Plate's first Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup. In 1985, his main partner was

Enzo Francescoli Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (; born 12 November 1961), nicknamed "El Príncipe" ("The Prince"), is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a attacking midfielder. He is regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and as one of ...

. By the time he retired, he had scored 166 goals in 464 matches.

International career

Although he was included in the Argentine squad, Alonso was not in the plans of coach

César Luis Menotti César Luis Menotti (; born 5 November 1938), known as ''El Flaco'' ("Slim"), is an Argentine former football manager and player who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as the head coach of the Argentina national team. During his playing days, he pl ...

for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Menotti gave Alonso only a few minutes of play during the tournament, as Argentina went on to win the competition on home soil. For the 1978 World Cup, Argentina numbered players alphabetically, and as a result Alonso (a midfielder) wore the number 1 jersey (usually reserved for goalkeepers). In 1983, national coach

Carlos Bilardo Carlos Salvador Bilardo Digiano (born 16 March 1938) is an Argentine former physician, football player, and manager. Bilardo achieved worldwide renown as a player with Estudiantes de La Plata in the 1960s, and as the manager of the Argentina ...

gave Alonso some playing time, but eventually used younger players

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the F ...

Jorge Burruchaga Jorge Luis Burruchaga (; born 9 October 1962), nicknamed ''Burru'', is an Argentine association football coach and former professional football player. He played both as an attacking midfielder and forward and scored the winning goal in the fi ...

, and Carlos Tapia in his position.

Post-retirement

After retiring from the pitch, Alonso opened an insurance agency. He was also a partner in several commercial ventures, even though he was not an advertising figurehead: his appeal for non-River fans was limited, and Maradona was Argentina's poster boy after his exploits in the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had ...

. Together with Merlo, Alonso coached River Plate in 1989, but the duo was dismissed mid-season when new club president Alfredo Davicce made good on an election promise to bring in Daniel Passarella as coach. River eventually went on to win the championship.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

;River Plate * Primera División: 1975 Nacional, 1975 Metropolitano, 1979 Nacional, 1979 Metropolitano, 1980 Metropolitano, 1981 Nacional, 1985–86 * Copa Libertadores:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

;Argentina *

: 1978

References

External links

* *
Alonso's statistics at River Detroit

Profile and Statistics
at Futbolistasblogspotcom.blogspot.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alonso, Norberto 1953 births Living people People from Vicente López Partido Argentine footballers Association football midfielders Club Atlético River Plate footballers Olympique de Marseille players Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players Argentina international footballers Argentine Primera División players Ligue 1 players Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in France Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province