BarcelonaWhen he was eight years old, Julián Álvarez was always the first to hand in his work at school. And then, when the other students were still struggling to solve the exercises, he started drawing players wearing the shirt of the Argentine national team and River Plate. I already dreamed of being a player. And I would make it. Julián was six years old and more than once he drew Lionel Messi, who was already playing in the World Cup in 2006. Alvarez was six years old.
Álvarez’s childhood was in Calchín, a town of 2,500 inhabitants lost in the middle of the province of Córdoba. In the middle of nowhere, where you look at the horizon and it seems like the world won’t end. Lands of shepherds, of tough people, of Europeans who arrived in the 19th century to find land and a new life in the middle of Argentina, a young state. A small place, but where football was also followed, but on television. At most, some residents went to Córdoba from time to time to watch matches of the city’s teams. Some lucky guy explained that he had gone to faraway Buenos Aires to see a River or Boca game, stretching the anecdote for years. In the Álvarez house, football continued, but not much. The father left his back in an agricultural company that employs almost the entire village, thanks to the wheat. The mother was one of the teachers at the school and her classmates told her that she had a very smart child; that he got good grades, he was educated and well-lived. An intelligence that now demonstrates on the field of play.
At school, they already told him spiderite because he liked Spiderman. A nickname that has always accompanied him. In fact, when he won the first titles with River Plate, he celebrated them with a mask of this playful character. He was still a young man living a dream. At the age of 11, playing for Atlético Calchín, where he had to travel a lot of kilometers to play other games, he already stood out. So much so that his name reached the ears of the big clubs in Buenos Aires, first. And Real Madrid, then. At the age of 11, the white club saw him in a tournament and offered the parents a trip, their first to Europe, to see if their little boy could stay at the white club. He would get to play in a tournament, where he would face Barça and score goals. But the signing was not closed, as you could not sign an Argentinian child without a family in Spain without breaking FIFA regulations. Julián, therefore, continued to live with his parents until he was 15, until finally River Plate took him away.
Under Guardiola’s orders
Under Marcelo Gallardo, Julián Álvarez became one of the most promising young players in Argentine football. So much so, that in 2018 he was one of those chosen by the Argentine national team to go to the World Cup in Russia to be part of a group of young players who trained with those called up. For Julián it was an incredible experience to be next to Messi, with Maradona visiting the training sessions. He was part of the rounds and the games, learning, dreaming that in 2022 he would already be one of those invited. Said and done. He has already scored four goals in Qatar. And his connection with Messi excites the Argentine fans, who move around the networks a photo of the young Julián Álvarez at 11 years old next to Messi, once they coincided in the sports city of the city. After the semi-finals against the Croatians, Messi received the award for best player of the match, but decided to give it to Julián, author of two goals. And the striker had the same happy eyes as in that photo from more than a decade ago.
Álvarez excelled as a striker at River, winning the Libertadores and a host of titles. In a Libertadores match, he scored six goals in an 8-1 win over the Peruvian Alianza de Lima. His ability to score goals in official matches also caught the attention of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who would sign him for 30 million euros in the summer of 2022. At City it is his turn to be Haaland’s replacement, but every time enters the field of play, usually scores. “He’s ready, he wants to learn and he understands the game. It’s great luck to have him,” the coach of Santpedor often says. He was also a substitute in the World Cup, but Scaloni has given him the starting role ahead of Lautaro Martínez. The result? He already has four goals and has become the youngest player to score two goals in a World Cup semi-final since Pelé in 1958. Julián Álvarez seems to be in a hurry, ready to always be the first. Like when he was doing his homework at school in a small town in the middle of Argentina, where now they rub their eyes when they see how one of their own has come so far. With less than 2,500 inhabitants, it is almost the smallest town that has seen one of its own people score a goal in the World Cup, only behind the Uruguayan town of Nuevo Berlin, where Giordan d’Arrascaeta was born. In Nuevo Berlin, however, they have no neighbors in the World Cup final. In Chalquín, yes.
