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Julián Álvarez, the quiet kid who talks to Messi on the pitch

2022-12-15T11:13:55.004Z


The Argentine striker from a small town in Córdoba, whose discovery is attributed to two people, is the second highest goalscorer for Albiceleste in the World Cup


End of April 2011, Santiago Bernabéu, ground zero of the cascade of classics that shook Spanish football like never before in modern times.

An irrespirable environment.

The expulsion of Pepe, the great crack of Mourinho and Messi sending Madrid to hell with two goals in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals.

In the midst of that warlike atmosphere, a child with a reputation for being quiet attended that tumult in the stands.

It was Julián Álvarez, who had traveled from Argentina to do a test with the white team.

I was 11 years old.

This Tuesday, at 22, he and La Pulga made the pass to the World Cup final with a brace and a penalty against Croatia (3-0).

Since Pelé in 1958, no one had scored twice in a semifinal at a younger age: 22 years and 316 days, compared to 17 years and 249 days for the Brazilian genius.

"Personally and for the group, we deserved this," he claimed laconic, as he is, in the guts of the luxurious Lusail.

The City forward, in the second echelon of top scorers in Qatar (four goals, after the five from Messi and Mbappé), was always shot by Barça (for 10), but at the age of 11 they got him a test in Valdebebas.

Piero Foglia, supposed discoverer of the footballer in a story of crossed versions, knew Ramón Martínez, head of the Merengue youth academy, who encouraged him, according to his account, to take Álvarez to Spain to submit him to the Madrid scanner.

And that they did.

Julián Álvarez, 11 years old, in a tournament with Real Madrid. PHOTO COURSE BY PIERO FOGLIA

Their father Gustavo, a truck driver, accompanied them and they spent a month on the Castellana.

The boy took pictures with Di María and Higuaín, and played a tournament in Perelada (Girona) that confirmed the interest of the whites in the boy.

However, a bureaucratic problem arose.

“The regulations did not allow signing until he was 16 years old and he was 11. We noticed that Julián was not prepared for uprooting [to live in Madrid] and he continued in Calchín [his town], although in higher categories.

With his father we decided that he would not leave there until he wanted to ”, explains Flogia, on the other end of the phone, three hours after Álvarez was crowned in Qatar.

jump to river

There it continued, an agricultural town of 3,000 inhabitants in the province of Córdoba that welcomes visitors with a large sign in honor of the local idol: "Welcome to Calchín, the land of Julián Álvarez."

They only needed to put "the land of the Spider (or the Little Spider)", because that's how everyone knows this kid who always said little.

Also now in the City dressing room, those who have access to the booth count.

They let him grow in the warmth of Gustavo and Mariana (his mother), until finally in 2015 he was encouraged to try River, which would be his great training club.

He was 15 years old, about to be 16.

His arrival at Millonarios left the debate of who opened the doors of the elite for him, if Piero Foglia or Alfredo Alonso, a recruiter who exhibits as proof the first note he took by hand in 2015 from the attacker.

“Julián Álvarez (Spider).

Midfielder, skilful, good punch.

Papa Gustavo, from Calchín”.

This second, according to his words to this newspaper, tried to place him in Argentinos Juniors, but the entity did not have money to pay his pension, so he called River.

For his part, Foglia assures that, when the boy entered River, he had already been treating the player and the family for at least four years, and that he got him the test in Madrid.

First note taken in 2015 from Julián Álvarez by the recruiter Alfredo Alonso, who is awarded the discovery of the player.GIVEN BY ALFREDO ALONSO

Whoever it is, the striker's career would no longer have a brake.

His good shooting, depth and defensive work made him progress quickly.

With Marcelo

Muñeco

Gallardo he established himself and stood out in the

millionaire

team (54 goals in 122 games), and Pep Guardiola signed him last summer for City for 21 million.

In Manchester, he lives in the center with his girlfriend, and his two brothers are also in the city (Rafael, 26, and Agustín, 24), who play for Abbey Hey, in the tenth English division, and to whom he goes to see in action whenever you can.

Álvarez has not lacked praise from the coach, but he has Haaland ahead of him.

"You'll see when I play more," warned the

citizen

coach in the summer.

Until the World Cup break, he had only started three times in the Premier (the Norwegian was not there twice) and had scored seven goals in all competitions.

In any case, it does not take long to produce.

In his first start in the Copa Libertadores with River (2019, against Porto Alegre), he scored.

And he did the same with Argentina (against Ecuador last March), in the Premier (against Notthingham Forest), the Champions League (Copenhagen), the English League Cup (Chelsea) and the World Cup (Poland).

An extreme case of punctuality.

Since that third game of the group stage, he has been in the albiceleste eleven in the World Cup, instead of Lautaro Martínez, and the return has been four goals.

Before, as a resource, Scaloni had already used it even in the middle against Arabia to attack the back of the central defenders.

He and Enzo Fernández have been the main appearances on a lineup that seemed consolidated, but that has had to move after the initial blow.

At the gates of the final, the attack is up to him and Messi, whom he saw in a distant 2011 at the Bernabéu invited by Madrid.

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Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2022-12-15

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