Omar Corbatta

A dazzling Argentine right winger, Omar Corbatta was one of the great sideline artists of South American football. Small, elusive and almost impossible to read in one-on-one duels, he played with feints, balance, sudden acceleration and the old winger’s instinct to destroy a full-back before delivering the final wound. At Racing Club, he became a sacred idol, winning league titles and leaving the kind of emotional mark that statistics only partly explain. With Argentina, he was part of the brilliant Carasucias attack and won the South American Championship in 1957 and 1959, while his penalty taking was famously ruthless. His life and career were also marked by fragility, alcohol and painful decline, giving his legend a darker edge.