Luis Advíncula: the Peruvian who never tires of passing goals in Boca, his place in the world

In the defenders it is a wheelbarrow. At 10, a wall pass. In the 9th the goal and for the winger, that mix of wing and lateral, that is to say that train that is always at 200 km/h, the applause distinguishes him when he reaches the opposite area and shoots a cross made with a square. In the 70s it was called Puñalada and belonged to Calatayud. In the 80s, Blind Oblitas thus built his myth. Now Luis Advíncula is the Peruvian representative of that play that is made up of precision and speed: the center back that is half a goal.

The minefield that Argentine football usually is will always put him above any other Peruvian in the position – say André Carrillo, say Andy Polo -, and the regularity with which he prevails in this tournament makes any praise for his club fair, which Today Juan Román Riquelme watches over. “Stay to live,” they said the other day on the social networks of Boca Juniors, who never said that to León Zambrano or Ñol Solano.

In the Super League or the Cup, against the Chilean Diaz or the sharpshooter Benedetti, Luis Advíncula is doing precisely that: building the house in a neighborhood where he should no longer leave.

The precision, authority and the 10 goals he has scored in Boca since 2021 have been the arguments for Advíncula to receive the treatment of a promising youth in Boca… at 34 years old. He received a million-dollar offer from Brazil in January and Brandsen 805 said no. There have been five coaches at the Xeneize club since he arrived and they all ended up using him as a starter. Tonight is proof that they were not wrong: he completed – according to Peruvian statistician Ysrael Zárate – nine goal assists since he set foot in Boca for the first time and five of them have been for the Uruguayan Merentiel. He is equal with Lautaro Blanco as the team’s top assister of the season, with five for each.

It is not normal for a Peruvian soccer player to find his place in the world. I think of Claudio Pizarro in Bayern -9 seasons-, Raúl Ruidíaz in Seattle -7 years- or further back, Juan Reynoso in Cruz Azul -8-. Neither Cueva nor Flores nor even Paolo seemed to find in their heavy careers abroad a city that exposed them, loved them and empowered them as much as Boca a Advíncula. He, who in recent days made the news for statements that suggested his “close” retirement, gives back in the only way possible for an elite player: titles. Argentine Cup 2020, League Cup 2022, Professional League 2022 and Argentine Super Cup 2023.

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