“Messi is my idol”: Julián Álvarez and the dream come true of the boy who now makes Lionel happy in Qatar

Julian Alvarez enjoyed a night that he’ll have spent many nights dreaming of, celebrating a World Cup win with Lionel Messi.

The Manchester City forward, who grew up idolizing Lionel Messi, started for the first time with the Argentine team -and in a World Cup- and scored a goal in the 2-0 victory against Poland that gave him qualification for the round of 16 in Qatar 2022.

As a result, the South American nation earned top spot in Group C and will face Australia for a spot in the quarter-finals on Saturday evening.

Alvarez was a key part of Argentina’s success having scored their second goal of the night with a wonderfully-taken effort, having linked up with Lionel Messi in the final third.

It wasn’t long ago that the 22-year-old attacker was posing for photos with the global superstar as a child.

Now, he’s a valued teammate who is forging quite a partnership with the Paris Saint-Germain star.

Julián Álvarez starts alongside Lionel Messi with Argentina’s World Cup dreams on the line 🇦🇷

It wasn’t too long ago that he was just a kid trying to get a picture with his hero 🥺❤️ pic.twitter.com/8uSo9zPfv1

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 30, 2022

With Messi and Alvarez in attack, the South American side look dangerous and the Manchester City man will be hoping to make more memories with his hero in what looks certain to be the 35-year-old’s last-ever World Cup.

The story of Julián and Messi

It is 2011. While Lionel Messi does not stop adding titles at the hands of Pep Guardiola , the current Manchester City striker -directed precisely by Pep-, with the illusion of every child who dreams of being a professional footballer, was the goalscorer of his team and gives interviews.

With the same calm and ease with which he now faces the cameras, Julián Alvarez analyzed the matches with great maturity for his young age and one day, when he was asked who his idol was, he did not hesitate for a second: “Messi” . Time passed for both of them and fate -soccer- brought them together on a soccer field. He made his debut in 2021 and is now in Qatar celebrating with Leo.

But Álvarez also had an encounter with his idol. 10 years ago, beyond that unforgettable statement that has thousands and thousands of views on YouTube, little Julián got a unique photo: in the preview of the 2011 Copa América , he traveled an hour and a half with his two older brothers in the back seat of Gustavo’s car, his father, to go to a hotel in Orfeo (Córdoba) where the Argentina squad was located. Once inside the place, they intercepted Messi when he was going to the dining room and managed to take a historic selfie and sign several shirts.

After passing the test in River at the age of 15, on January 20, 2016, he stayed in Núñez, stayed at the pension and joined the club’s Institute. For his good level in Inferior,He arrived at the AFA Youth and had a unique experience: in 2018 he was chosen as a sparring partner to travel to Russia with the footballers of the Sampaoli National Team. There, in addition to showing himself, he was able to take the second photo of himself with Leo.

Julián probably did not imagine it, but today, against Poland, he has just made Lionel Messi happy, the same one that made him happy every time he saw him kick a ball on television.