Pedro Gallese, the goalkeeper who always shows his face when the Peruvian team needs him

To believe, you don’t just have to put your chest on. Also the face and Pedro Gallese He did so in La Paz. A shortcut with the hands and followed, another with the face, made the doorman of the peruvian team be one of the figures of Peru vs Bolivia, despite the 1-0 defeat. Only a goal from Ramiro Vaca – previously diverted in Callens – could beat the national.

It is that to add in La Paz you needed all the attention and also luck. Gallese had it in that save, Vaca had it in his shot for the local victory. Although the Pedro Gallese thing was intuition to the maximum. In the 50th minute, a Bolivian free kick was the dangerous weapon.

Headbutt and Gallese made an incredible save down to his right. But the rebound was left to Marcelo Martins, and Gallese, true to his style, came out with outstretched arms, on his knees and a firm head. The attacker’s shot hit him in the face. Thus, he avoided the Bolivian goal.

That is Pedro Gallese, the goalkeeper who appears when Peru must maintain a result. It remains in the minds of the fans that day in the Bombonera in the last Qualifiers when he stopped everything from Lionel Messi and company.

He arrived in Buenos Aires with just enough, with a fractured finger not fully recovering. In fact, the index of his right hand was left with a malformation and today it is longer than normal.

The national goalkeeper is not only safe under the three sticks, but also knew how to make himself strong in the head. He overcame personal problems within his family and also a bad season he had with Alianza Lima in 2019.

In La Paz, Gallese completed his 80th game with the Peruvian team. The ‘Jotita’ – it was the third aquero of that selection of JJ Oré -, wears the Bicolor since 2014, when Pablo Bengoechea trusted him.

From there, he became the goalkeeper with the most presence with the Peruvian team. In 2019 he achieved that record with 51 matches, surpassing the 50 for Óscar Ibáñez and the 48 for Miguel Miranda. It was in the match against Colombia at the Monumental.

Of the 80 games, Gallese achieved 28 wins and 19 draws, receiving 99 goals in total. He is the undisputed headline compared to his current teammates. José Cavallo has only saved in 7 games since 2007, while Carlos Cáceda only has 6 since 2016.