Valentín Barco: Boca's Latest Wonderkid

The blades of grass on the Maracanã Stadium has seen the pioneers of ‘Joga Bonito’ and their footballing children samba their way through fodder in the heart of Rio de Janeiro. Whether it was Pélé, Zico, Garrincha and Romàrio in the 20th century or Ronaldo Nazário, Ronaldinho, Neymar Jr and Vínícius Jr in later times. Yet this article is not about any of these players. Nor in fact, about any Brazilian.

It is about a young Argentinian footballer by the name of Valentín Barco, a prepositioned star of tomorrow. He proudly dons the shirt of Boca Juniors, which this season boasts a shade of blue splashed with the traditionally thick horizontal yellow stripe. On Sunday, he suited up for the biggest game of his career, operating on the left side of attack in Boca's 4-4-2 and lasting 78 minutes before being subbed off in the Copa Libertadores Final.

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Fluminense would go on to win 2-1 in extra time via a goal from John Kennedy to secure their first-ever Libertadores title, whilst Boca -- having lost in the 2018 final to archnemesis River Plate and the 2012 final to Corinthians -- once again missed out on a chance to win their seventh Copa Libertadores trophy, squandering an opportunity to go level with Independiente for the most championships (7) in South America. A Brazilian club has now won the competition five years in a row, with Fluminense becoming the 11th Brazilian side to win the tournament.