Manchester City forward Julian Alvarez has opened up on strike-partner Erling Haaland's love of Argentine giants Boca Juniors.
Haaland, 22, has never played for a club outside Europe, so it may seem bizarre that he has chosen to support Boca. The Buenos Aires side are one of the most successful in South America and have a colossal, passionate fanbase in the Argentine capital.
Haaland's infatuation with the club began was while he was playing alongside former Boca academy prospect Leonardo Balerdi, who briefly shared a dressing room with the prolific striker at Borussia Dortmund. Haaland joined the German giants from Red Bull Salzburg in January 2020 having burst onto the scene in his native Norway with Bryne and Molde.
Therefore, this season's Premier League top goalscorer has ties to plenty of great clubs. Another side he could have chosen to support are Leeds, having been born in the city in 2000, while his father, Alf-Inge, was playing for the Whites.
But he was drawn to the astonishing atmosphere created at La Bombonera, the palatial home of Boca Juniors which seats 54,000 fans and is renowned across the world as being a hostile ground to play at. Alvarez told Argentine outlet TyC Sports of Haaland: "He's a good guy. He helps me, we talk to each other and I try to observe him from the outside in order to learn.
Is Erling Haaland the best player in the world? Have your say in the comments!
"Ever since I've been here (City), he's always told me he's for Boca Juniors and he's talked to me about La Bombonera. I think he was with Leonardo Balerdi at Borussia Dortmund and that influenced him a bit."
Alvarez explained how he is hoping to change Haaland's allegiance to River Plate, Boca's arch-rivals, where he rose through the ranks before joining City last year. While few fans know Haaland is a Boca Juniors fan, he has posed in the club's shirt in the past and Balerdi claims he "drove him crazy" with the videos he showed him of their fans.
The now-Marseille defender told TyC Sports in 2021: "When I was at Borussia, from the first day he (Haaland) asked me which was the best team, the one with the most history in Argentina. I drove him crazy with Boca, I showed him videos of the fans, photos of the stadium and everything related to Boca."
Balerdi added: "He became a bit of a Boca fan and to this day we are in contact and every time he sees a Boca video he sends it to me. He annoys me and asks me, 'When are we going?', so, hopefully, one day he will have to experience that. I'm going to do the impossible so that he can experience it. He asked me to send him a Boca shirt with the number 9 on it."
