A trip to the birthplace of Franco Mastantuono: how the ball beat the racket, the rebellious flag bearer, and the driver who took him to "the gold mine."

Azul is in turmoil. Every corner of the city is talking about Franco Mastantuono , the River Plate gem who dazzles all of Argentine soccer and is in the sights of the senior national team and European giants. And this town, located just over 300 kilometers from Buenos Aires, already knows what it's like to be the birthplace of greats. People still remember the fire truck rides to welcome former soccer player and current coach Matías Almeyda and tennis player and Davis Cup legend Federico Del Bonis . But the work of this talented 17-year-old left-hander inspires both profound admiration and great amazement. The commotion he generates is so great that even Boca Juniors fans in this land of 75,000 inhabitants were moved by his stunning free-kick goal in the Superclásico.

Mastantuono's life, at 17, moves at a frenetic pace that contrasts sharply with Azul's. There's almost no time for naps for a teenager who juggles his time between River's first team and his final year of high school studies at the club's institute, along with the feeling of a promising future that's increasingly becoming a continuous present.

But when Franco returns to his homeland, he is still Franco and moves with the same naturalness he did when he was still a child who at the same time excelled at playing tennis and soccer.

"Are you aware that in your car you were taking a gold mine to Buenos Aires?" Cristina, the receptionist at Inmaculada Concepción , Franco's school, says she asked that question to her son, Nicolás, who, coincidentally, is one of the teachers who works with the professional team at Millonario and who sometimes took local credit to Buenos Aires when he was already in River's youth system.

Before pursuing that dream painted in red and white like his heart, there was a path that began at a very young age. At the same time as he began school, at age 3, at the Inmaculada Concepción Kindergarten (whose principal is his godmother), where he completed all of primary school and even his first year of secondary school, little Franquito began kicking a ball at the River de Azul soccer school , where he would be coached by his father, Cristian, who commanded it.

Franco was born into a family that was very passionate about football , as his father was a top scorer for River Plate, and his three uncles also wore that jersey. The genes for his innate talent were there. He also has a cousin who played volleyball, with an extensive career in the A1 League, and another who was a soccer player and reached the fourth division with Estudiantes de La Plata. On his mother's side, they also played sports, although not competitively.

In the Mastantuono household, sport is considered part of the children’s education . This is how dad Cristian (50), a national football coach, and mom Sofía Bruno (47), a graduate in Sociology, university professor and employee of INTA, understand it. In fact, their other two children are also athletes. Lucila (20), the eldest, –who is studying in Buenos Aires– plays hockey and Valentín , the youngest (15) –is in his fourth year of secondary school–, plays football at River de Azul.

Yes, the Mastantuono family is identified with River Plate. There, between the ages of six and seven, Franco began his journey on the 11-a-side pitch. “Here, I was Franco and ten others,” summarizes Daniel Echeverri , former president and current manager of River Plate, who has gone down in history and, excitedly, expresses: “I've known Franco since he was little. He was always looking for fouls near the box to kick free kicks. The one he scored against Boca wasn't a coincidence. And then he'd grab the ball from his own goal and run to the other side, dribbling past everyone, and score the goal. He's unique. He has a natural gift.”

Emiliano Bustamante , one of the teachers he had at Cemento Armado , adds: “On the field he never gave up on a game, and he already did the same thing he does now here.”

Cemento Armado was the other Azul club where Mastantuono played. It was only for one year, in 2019, when he went from 11 to 12 players. "I arranged the loan," recalls Armando Brancatelli , secretary of the club where Pelado Almeyda also played.

And the description of the man who claims to have been equally happy about last Sunday's goal despite being a Boca fan leaves no doubt and coincides with Echeverri's: "It was Franco and ten others. The difference on the pitch was abysmal with the rest . He had supernatural abilities." He goes even further and risks: "He could be the next Messi."

At Cemento Armado, Franco played with players from one and two divisions older than him (2005 and 2006) and helped the ninth division win the championship. "It was crazy playing with him because, at such a young age, he had a tremendous advantage, making him seem bigger than us," says Nahuel Frontalini , one of his former teammates.

“It was just a matter of giving him the ball in the middle of the field and having him solve it. He was a bit of a musclehead, but who cared? He scored goals and we all celebrated,” adds Martín Zárate , another player who played with him. “He played with us, but look at the monsters he plays with now,” they say in unison, surprised. And they agree that “he's gifted enough to have a messianic career.”

When Mastantuono was playing for Cemento Armado, River Plate had already appeared in his life . In fact, at the end of that year, he debuted wearing the red stripe for the Metropolitan League team in his division and also won the championship. He then played in a tournament in Ayacucho in February, where he performed very well, and the coach requested to sign him with the AFA. He was supposed to leave Azul, but his parents had agreed that he would stay for another year and would not move to Buenos Aires until he was old enough to move to the Ninth Division. A month later, the coronavirus pandemic hit. And he continued training in his backyard, with River Plate and also with Cemento Armado.

River Plate had arrived in Azul in 2017. Scout Mariano Tedesco was the one who spotted him and passed his name on to Daniel Brizuela, the area director. Two months later, he went to take another tryout at Monumental, on the synthetic turf auxiliary field. Then, out of nowhere, he was asked to play in a tournament in a nearby city. But he had commitments between his studies and tennis, and he couldn't make it .

Two years later, River Plate held another tryout. It was on the Cemento Armado pitch, with the best Azul youth players. “They asked us to mark the three or four who were doing the best, and we mentioned Franco among them,” says Benjamín Rusito Bertuzzi , the teacher who had him there. He continued: “When the ball went out, they gave him another one and told him to face them all and finish it yourself . They did it twice, and Franco grabbed the ball in the middle of the pitch, dribbled past three or four, and scored. He scored two great goals.”

In mid-2021, as the pandemic slowly began to subside, the boarding house was opened, and at that point, Franco settled in at River Plate. At first, it was difficult for him because of the uprooting. Whenever he felt ill, his parents would take the car and go see him. A year later, in the Eighth Division, with Martín Pellegrino as coach, he was given the captain's armband, took on the responsibility, and took off. And in a short time, he confirmed that he has a promising future without a ceiling...

Along with soccer, Mastantuono played tennis. He'd been doing it since he was 6 years old at the Azul Rowing Club. And he loved it. During elementary school, he'd go to school in the morning, eat lunch, grab his racket, practice, finish, and go to the next practice session, using the number five ball. In between, he'd drink milk. And sometimes he'd even fall for the tennis equipment at the soccer club.

“I remember Franco's first classes, when he came wearing a River Plate jersey, and we were struck by his eagerness to learn. He was like a sponge; we'd tell him something, and he'd absorb it immediately and try to do it until he got it right. He learned at a very fast pace,” says Esteban Leiva , one of Mastantuono's tennis teachers.

And he adds: “He was quite a competitive kid, and that increased as he progressed. After he left school, he moved on to the introductory and pre-competition stages. And then he started playing with U-10 kids and competing with them. And then with the U-12s.” He also confirmed that it wasn't a myth that he was among the top-ranked players, but a reality. “Just look at the rankings from that time,” he noted. And he achieved that thanks to his best shots, which, according to Leiva, were “serves, backhands, and forehands.” And, in addition, “he was very tactically skilled.”

“Franquito had all the characteristics of a very good player: he was hard-working, tough, enjoyed the activity, had a gift for coordination and was very competitive,” adds Mastantuono’s tennis coach, Ignacio Poblet , who still regrets Franco’s decision because “he had a great future in this sport and I had high hopes for him. We were looking to replicate a (Federico) Del Bonis, but a football Mastantuono came out.”

Federico Del Bonis was a distinguished tennis player and key to the history of Argentina's sport. He gave Argentina the decisive point in the Davis Cup final against Croatia in 2016, helping the country win its only Silver Salad Bowl to date.

“Franco is a healthy kid, and it makes me very happy that a kid from Azul can be on the front page and have big goals for the future,” Delbo says upon welcoming Clarín to his home. He adds: “I remember when I played tennis, they sent me a video, and I was really struck by his forehand.” Beyond the fact that she doesn't have direct contact with him due to a generational issue, although she does have contact with his entourage, “I don't think I could have influenced his decision because it's a very personal matter,” she affirms.

“We tried to get him into tennis, but he was always drawn to football and River Plate,” explains Leiva, who is an Independiente fan, but asserts that “lately I've been watching River Plate more.” And Poblet, a Boca Juniors fan who was won over more by “affection than fandom,” reinforced: “I saw it coming. I realized he was going to quit tennis the day he told us he was going to try out for River Plate. And I knew he was going to stay.”

When River Plate appeared in Franco's life, he wasn't just obsessed with wearing the jersey he loved, or with doing what he loved most, which was and still is football, but also with the intense competition with the number five. What he liked most about tennis was the competitiveness offered by national tournaments . It was precisely what he was missing in Azul's football, which—according to the players themselves—is "very amateur."

He lived tennis with a different kind of adrenaline rush , as evidenced by an anecdote from Poblet: "He had it in his head during a tournament that he had to win with a smash, which is like a volleyball smash, but with a racket. He was 9 years old and couldn't close it; he kept hitting the wire, until the situation arose and he won with the smash. When he sets his mind to something, he achieves it." Beyond the challenges he set for himself even as a very young child, Poblet describes the Franquito of those days as "an overflow of joy," especially on trips, which he often went on with his parents and siblings, as a family event.

He enjoyed his tennis trips a lot, although one of his best was with soccer . With Cemento Armado, he went to the traditional Mar del Plata summer tournament and had a wonderful time with his teammates. “He was a little shy, but once we got going, he quickly caught on. We spent that trip singing on the bus and back at the hotel. They told us to go to bed at midnight, but we stayed up later rapping. Franco liked to rap,” recalls Martín Zárate , a former teammate.

Franco Mastantuno was born on August 14, 2007, and his story began in the house on Colón Street where he grew up. In that neighborhood, they still remember him going shopping, hand in hand with his dad or mom, at the grocery store on the other block. “ He was a very pretty, cute little Russian boy , and he spent his time playing ball in the yard. I didn't see him much because between school and playing a lot of sports, he didn't spend much time at home,” recalls Gabriela Lagreca , a neighbor of the Mastantuonos, whom she knew well because she was a schoolmate of Franco's father.

Little Mastan played a lot with a ball (his first one was a gift from his parents) and wouldn't grab conventional toys. No toy cars or dolls. They say that as a child, he was very restless and unstoppable , so much so that his mother was afraid of being called home from school constantly for behavioral problems, but the first important call was to let him know he was a flag bearer. He got good grades at school because he was very intelligent, even though he sometimes shirked his studies. In general, he had no problems, not even with languages. "He was very good at English, like all the Mastantuonos. No problems with them," says Franco's teacher at the entrance of the Inmaculada Concepción school.

At age 8, Franquito surprised everyone and created a YouTube channel . He filmed himself playing soccer, uploaded tennis videos, and also played FIFA Fut Draft (a kind of modern PC Fútbol). On PlayStation, he chose Barcelona to play with Lionel Messi , his idol, whom he met at the AFA grounds in Ezeiza. Now, the boys and girls of Azul, in addition to Leo's jersey, also wear Mastantuono's .

Whenever he can, Azul's new idol returns to his homeland. He takes refuge in his nest, where he takes advantage of the opportunity to be pampered and eat asado , his favorite food. He sees his friends, although most of them are close by since they study in Buenos Aires. Some are older, as he generally surrounded himself with kids older than him. He goes to every one of the places he visited as a child and greets everyone. He does it naturally. He also participates in charity events like the benefit match held last year for the Children's Hospital. He also visits each of the clubs he played for, both in soccer and tennis.

His life changed from one moment to the next. And he feels like he's just playing football. But fame is there, and it's already begun to beat. For example, at Manolete , a historic café located across from Azul's main square, where a sort of "ladies' table" is set up, River's jewel is the center of attention. In a bar where you can touch on different topics—from Milei's fight with journalists, to the price of the dollar, farm tax cuts, harvests, any football match—or simply joke around, these days the only thing people talk about is Franco Mastantuono, that child prodigy who is the pride of a town in turmoil .