Advertisement

Soccer-No Kempes style landing for Saviola at River Plate

BUENOS AIRES, June 24 (Reuters) - Former Argentina striker Javier Saviola trained with River Plate for the first time in 14 years on Wednesday and is set to seal his return when his contract with Hellas Verona expires on June 30. Saviola, back in Argentina after playing for the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Benfica, passed a medical on Tuesday and practiced with coach and former team mate Marcelo Gallardo's squad. His return and the impending Boca Juniors comeback of Carlos Tevez, with local media reporting Juventus have agreed terms to end the Argentina striker's contract a year early, recalls a tit-for-tat between the rival clubs in 1981. Diego Maradona went to Boca Juniors from Argentinos Juniors that year, a one-season stepping stone on his way to Barcelona. A few weeks later, River responded by signing 1978-World Cup winner Mario Kempes from Valencia and dramatically flew him on to the Monumental pitch by helicopter for his presentation to the media. Saviola, a boyish looking 33 who made his first division debut for River at 16 and went on to play for Argentina at the 2006 World Cup finals, will link up again with playmaker Pablo Aimar. "(Aimar) too was very important in all this... although the decision to return to the club is mine," Saviola said. The pair shared a brilliant partnership in the River side that won both the Apertura and Clausura titles in the 1999/2000 season when Saviola was voted 1999 South American footballer of the year. The 35-year-old Aimar, who played for Valencia, Benfica and Argentina at the 2002 World Cup finals, has rejoined River after spending more than a year recovering from an ankle problem including surgery in February. River have also signed Argentine forward Nicolas Bertolo, who had begun his career at Boca then played abroad for Palermo, Real Zaragoza and Mexico's Cruz Azul before returning home in 2013 to play for Banfield. River face Guarani of Paraguay in the semi-finals of the South American Libertadores Cup which resumes next month after a six-week break for the Copa America being played in Chile. (Reporting by Luis Ampuero; Writing by Rex Gowar)