The photo taken with Messi is the beginning

Going back to 10 years ago, Julian Alvarez was just a 12-year-old boy who idolized Lionel Messi. “El Pulga” was then a world-famous star as he had just won 4 consecutive Golden Balls in his career. Fate arranged for Alvarez to be in the same frame with M10 with many other young players.

Alvarez once shared on the homepage of Manchester City – his parent team: “Messi is my idol. Everyone in my family loves and is crazy about him. I want to play with Messi.”

Young Alvarez’s wish came true when 10 years later at the 2022 World Cup, he became a very good partner in attack with the Argentina captain. The goal to increase the score to 3-0 against Croatia came from Messi’s brave breakthrough before sending a pass to Alvarez to seal the match.

Photo taken together of Messi and Alvarez 10 years ago.

Playing next to Messi is a motivation

Revealing his qualities as a player from a young age when exposed to football at the age of 3, Julian Alvarez had trials at Boca Juniors and Real Madrid before joining the River Plate youth team. In River Plate’s shirt, Alvarez left an impression when he scored 36 goals in 96 appearances. The match he left the most impression was scoring 6 goals in an 8-1 victory over Alianza Lima at the Copa Libertadores.

In January, Argentina’s number 9 joined Man City, a big step forward in his career. Coach Pep Guardiola commented on Alvarez: “Julian is a guy who is conscious of scoring goals and likes to move behind the opponent’s defense.”

Alvarez was first recruited and debuted in the match against Chile in the Copa America in June 2021. At that time, Alvarez was just a backup plan for Lautaro Martinez in the tournament where Messi and Argentina won the championship.

Messi and Alvarez from 10 years ago and now.

At this year’s World Cup, with Lautaro Martinez’s performance declining, Alvarez shined at the right time to take the main role in attack. After 6 matches in the 2022 World Cup, Alvarez has now scored 4 goals, suddenly rising in the race for top scorer this year when he is equal in the number of goals with Oliver Giroud and 1 goal behind captain Messi and Mbappe. In addition, he also became the second Argentine player under the age of 22 to score 4 goals at the World Cup after Gonzalo Higuain in 2010.

With his sublime form, winning the trust of coach Scaloni and being a good partner with his idol Messi, Alvarez has realized his dream since he was a child. How wonderful that dream will be when he can help his idol Lionel Messi and the Argentina team lift the prestigious gold cup after 36 years of waiting.