The "spider" weaves a web around the Golden Goddess

"What is your dream?"

"To win the World Cup."

"Who is your idol?"

"Messi."

Julián Alvarez was 12 years old when he answered these questions from an Argentinian journalist. Ten years later, the popular "Spider" with his idol weaves a web around the Golden Goddess, and 45 million Argentines dream of their country on the roof of the world, for the first time in 36 years.

Messi is the central figure of the World Cup in Qatar. He scored five goals, has three assists and the whole planet is impatiently waiting for the final match, after which the debate on who is the best football player of all time could be put to an end. And the "guchos" did not reach that final thanks only to the PSŽ footballer. Argentina, as Messi pointed out several times, is a strong team and that team spirit carries it throughout the World Cup - in the goal of the brilliant Emiliano Martinez, Enzo Fernandes is the revelation of the championship and the future of the "gauchos". And the future is also 22-year-old Alvarez.

Alvarez started the World Cup on the bench. Against Saudi Arabia, he entered the game midway through the second half in place of Papua Gomes, while against Mexico he replaced Lautaro Martinez. After that, his place was constantly in the starting line-up. He scored a goal against Poland in the last match in the group, then he was the scorer in the round of XNUMX against Australia, and in the meeting with Croatia, he hit the net twice and won a penalty after which Messi put the "gauchos" in the lead.

During his years in the national team, Lionel Messi played with many fantastic players in attack. But, it often happened that those attackers in the national team jersey did not provide brilliant games like in the clubs, so Argentina's result was also missing. This time, Messi got an excellent collaborator in Qatar. Alvarez displaced Martinez from the starting line-up, appeared when he was most needed and created a strong relationship with Messi on the field. He is playing in the first World Cup in his career, and he has already scored more goals in the World Championships than Sergio Auger, and one less than Gonzalo Higuain. He is 22 years old and has scored four goals - Messi was the top scorer at the World Cup once as a 22-year-old, and it took him three major tournaments to find the back of the net four times.

Alvarez played 18 games in the national team jersey, and made his debut last year against Chile in the qualifiers for the World Cup. In January, he signed for Manchester City, who left him on loan at River until the end of the season. Sporting director of "citizen" Ćiki Begeristain said after the end of the work that he is "so happy" that Alvarez is the new player of City.

"We strongly believe he is one of the best young strikers from South America," said Begerstein.

He was at Rivera since 2016, debuted for the first team in 2018, and said goodbye to the fans in a masterful way - at the end of May, in the Copa Libertadores match against Alianza Lima, he scored six goals.

Since arriving at City, Alvarez has been in Erling Haaland's shadow. He made his debut in the Community Shield against Liverpool and scored a goal after 12 minutes.

"I always try to do my best. "Both in the club and in the national team, I have shown that I can play in various positions," said the Argentinian, who scored three goals in 12 matches in the Premier League so far.

Even as a child he was nicknamed "Spider". No one could take the ball away from him.

"It was always difficult for opposing players to take the ball away from him. Like it has more legs. Since he was four or five years old, that nickname followed him," recalled Hulijan's father.

When he was a boy, he once met Messi and took a photo with him. That photo circulated on the Internet last night as another proof that in football, and in life, anything is possible.