Class acts: the maths teacher who taught Argentina’s Álvarez and Fernández

Enzo Fernández and Julián Álvarez playing for River Plate in Buenos Aires. Composite: Guardian Design, Getty Images

For all Argentinians, sitting down to watch the 2022 World Cup final was special – but for Luciana Alvarengue there was additional emotion. In the Argentina side were not one but two players to whom she had taught maths at school: Enzo Fernández and Julián Álvarez.

“They are still my students, even if they are no longer in the classroom,” she says. “To see it with my son telling me: ‘Mamá, there are your students’ … that’s really nice.”