Otamendi and Enzo could become the first players to win the World Cup while playing in Portugal – Observer
Argentina beat Croatia, this Tuesday, and won the right to dispute the title of world champion. Among Lionel Scaloni’s starters are two Benfica players, Nicolas Otamendi and Enzo Fernández, and a victory on Sunday will put both footballers in the history of Argentine football, but also of the First League.
the portuguese championship has hosted five world champions, but none of them were playing in Portugal when they received the Jules Rimet trophy – the transfer always took place after the conquest. In case victory smiles to the “alviceleste”, Otamenti and Enzo dealt with an end to this trend. AI Liga will then have seven World Champions under its belt and it can be said that two of them were when they played in the fields of the main Portuguese championship.
The first World Champion to play in Portugal was Anderson Folga, a central defender who started representing Sporting in 2003. The Brazilian international was part of the squad that won the 2002 World Cup, the fifth in Brazil’s history. He was not a tolerated figure, but he participated in two group games (against China and Costa Rica). He was then 23 years old and, the following year, he was heading to Europe. Represented the lions for nine seasons, completing 342 games and scoring four goals, in addition to wearing the captain’s armband. At Alvalade, he won two Portuguese cups and two super cups, and lost the 2004/05 UEFA Cup final against CSKA Moscow. He ended his career at Corinthians.
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