⌞ 23⌝ 𝐽𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝐴𝑙𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑧

Relax: he doesn't seem to need to be the center of attention all the time.

Humble: he maintains a fairly simple image despite having reached an enormous level.

Worker: very focused on training and improvement.

Persevering: has a mindset of continuing to try even when things get complicated.
Competitive: off the court he can be calm, but when playing he has a lot of intensity.

Reserved: he doesn't seem to share absolutely everything he thinks.
Family: Family and close ties are quite important in his public life.

Loyal: for your story it fits especially well that he highly values ​​a friendship of many years.

Observer: could notice small changes in someone he has known since childhood.

Sensitive but not overly expressive: can care about someone without necessarily making an emotional speech.

Height: around 1.70 m.

Body type: athletic and slim, with defined musculature from training, especially in the legs.

Hair: Dark brown, thick, and naturally wavy/curly. She usually wears it short on the sides and longer on top.

Eyes: dark brown.

Skin: light/medium tone.

Face: elongated, with a defined jaw, straight nose and marked eyebrows.

Features: He usually has a shaved face or very little beard.

General appearance: youthful, sporty and quite simple; it does not have an overly produced appearance.

Accent: Argentine from Córdoba, but soft, not a caricature of the typical Cordoban accent. Having lived many years in Buenos Aires and Europe, his accent has become quite mixed.
Rio Negro

Vocabulary: pretty everyday and Argentinian. I would use “vos”, “che”, “qué hacés”, “dale”, “boludo” depending on the level of familiarity, etc.
His manner of speaking was simple and direct. He didn't seem like someone who gave very long speeches. His teachers remember him precisely as someone who spoke "only when necessary."

Tone: calm, rather low and relaxed. He doesn't need to be shouting to get noticed.
With someone you trust: it would probably be much more relaxed, with jokes and teasing, especially with a childhood friend.

When he's uncomfortable or excited: I find it more believable that he's a bit short on words rather than getting super dramatic.

Nickname(s): The Spider (most used)
The biting spider
The Beast of Calchín

Birthplace: Calchín, Córdoba, Argentina
January 31, 2000

Age: 26 years

Nationality(ies): Italian
Argentina

Height: 1.70 m

Weight: 70 kg

He emerged from CA Calchín, but developed and made his professional debut at River Plate, where he won six professional titles. In 2021, he became the top scorer in the Argentine Primera División with eighteen goals and won several individual awards, most notably South American Footballer of the Year. In 2022, he became the player with the most goals in a single Copa Libertadores match, netting six against Alianza Lima in an 8-1 rout, a record he shares with Juan Carlos Sánchez Frías.

Sport: Soccer

Professional club

Sports debut: 2018
(CA River Plate)

Club: Club Atlético de Madrid
League
Spanish First Division

Position: Forward
Extreme

Jersey number(s): 19

Goals for clubs: 139

national team

Selection: Flag of Argentina Argentina

Debut: June 3, 2021

Jersey number(s): 9

Part. (goals)
59 (15)

Career: CA River Plate (2018-22)
Manchester City FC (2022-24)
→ CA River Plate (2022)
Atlético de Madrid (2024-present)

Beginnings
He played youth football at Club Deportivo Atalaya (Córdoba) and Club Atlético Calchín until the age of fifteen, where he was champion and top scorer in the Independent Football League tournaments. At eleven, he had a trial at Real Madrid, where he participated in youth championships, standing out as a goalscorer and assist provider. His signing did not materialize due to the club's policy of not signing players under thirteen. He also had a trial at Argentinos Juniors, where he even lived in the club's residence, and finally, at the end of 2015, he joined River Plate's youth academy. He started in the seventh division, where he performed exceptionally well, then moved to the sixth division, where he spent little time before being called up to the reserve team. He played in the Generation Adidas Cup in 2017, where he was champion and the team's top scorer with nine goals, including two in the final.

River Plate

Alvarez at River Plate in 2019.
Coach Marcelo Gallardo promoted him to the first team for the 2018-19 Superliga season. His debut was in a friendly match against Talleres (C), a 3-1 defeat, where he scored his team's only goal. His official debut in the Superliga came as a starter on October 27th against Aldosivi at the Monumental Stadium in the tenth round of matches, a 1-0 victory. On December 2nd, he started again in a 3-1 win against Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP) in the fourteenth round of the Superliga, where he assisted Rafael Santos Borré on the first goal.

On December 9th, he made his Copa Libertadores debut in the second leg of the Superclásico final against Boca Juniors at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, coming on in the sixth minute of extra time for Exequiel Palacios. With the 3-1 victory, he became an international champion for the first time in his career.

On March 17, 2019, he scored his first professional goal against Independiente in a 3-0 victory on the 23rd matchday of the Superliga, and his first international goal came on May 7 in a 2-2 draw against Sport Club Internacional of Porto Alegre on the final matchday of the Copa Libertadores group stage. Some of these goals proved crucial for the club, such as the one he scored in the Copa Argentina final victory against Central Córdoba (SdE) before football was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After competitions resumed following the subsidence of the virus, the player maintained a high scoring average in the 2020 Copa Libertadores, netting goals against São Paulo (2-2), Binacional (6-0), and again against São Paulo (2-1), where he scored both goals, his first brace as a professional. He closed out the group stage with another goal against Liga de Quito (3-0), which allowed the team to qualify for the round of 16.

On March 4, 2021, he scored a goal against Racing to win the 2019 Argentine Super Cup, after beating them 5-0.

Already one of the key figures in the "millionaire" attack, he scored his first goal in a Superclásico on May 16, 2021, which ended in a one-goal draw, corresponding to the quarter-finals of the League Cup, and where "the Xeneizes" advanced to the semi-finals after penalty kicks.

On May 19th, he proved decisive, scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 victory against Independiente Santa Fe on the fifth matchday of the Copa Libertadores group stage, a win that secured River Plate's qualification for the round of 16. River's triumph was hailed as "epic" in the football world because they had to play the match amidst a massive Covid-19 outbreak, missing 20 players (including all their goalkeepers). They managed to field a team of at least eleven players, with no substitutes allowed for the full 90 minutes, two youth players making their first-team debuts, and midfielder Enzo Pérez in goal.

On October 3rd, he scored again in the Superclásico against Boca Juniors, this time a brace, securing a 2-1 victory for River Plate in the fourteenth round of the league championship. He was the star of the match, which put River Plate in sole possession of first place. Furthermore, with his two goals in the Superclásico and his goal in the 1-1 draw in the Copa de la Liga, he equaled the historic streak of scoring three consecutive goals in the Superclásico between River Plate and Boca Juniors, a feat not achieved—not even in friendly matches—since Martín Palermo in 1999. The last River Plate player to accomplish this was Beto Alonso in 1978.

These events preceded his first professional hat trick, in which he scored all three goals in a 3-1 victory against San Lorenzo on the sixteenth matchday of the league. Just a few weeks later, on November 7th, he increased his tally by scoring his first four goals in a 5-0 victory against Patronato on the twentieth matchday. These goals made him the league's top scorer—with River Plate already in sole possession of first place—and cemented his status as the best player in Argentine football at the time. His recognition transcended borders and even made headlines in Europe, where top international clubs expressed interest in adding the young River Plate prospect to their ranks.

On November 25th, he became champion of the Argentine First Division for the first time, after defeating Racing 4-0 in the twenty-second round, a match in which he scored his team's second goal. He secured the title with three rounds remaining, and was considered by various sports media outlets to be the best player of the tournament since his impressive scoring streak began in the eighth round match against Aldosivi (17 goals in 15 games), which positioned him as the top scorer for his team and the championship with eighteen goals.

December 18th was key in obtaining the 2021 Champions Trophy, scoring two goals and being decisive in the other two in the 4-0 victory against Colón, ending his great football year as he began it, becoming champion at the Estadio Único de Santiago del Estero.

Thanks to the outstanding level shown during the year 2021, he was included in the Ideal Team of America and was given the award for Best Footballer of America, an award which has been won by great players in the history of River Plate such as Antonio Alzamendi, Enzo Francescoli, Marcelo Salas and Javier Saviola, among others.

Following the announcement by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola that he would not have a place in his new club's squad until the end of the 2021-22 season, and that the player would prioritize getting playing time in order to secure a place in the Argentine national team less than a year before the Qatar World Cup, an agreement was reached between the English club and the Argentine club for the player to continue developing his career at River Plate on loan until December 2022, with the possibility of leaving in July if City exercises a clause.

On May 25, 2022, coinciding with River's 121st birthday, he scored six goals in the historic 8-1 rout of Alianza Lima on the last day of the group stage of the 2022 Copa Libertadores, thus becoming the first player in the club's history to score six goals in an official match and the second to score that amount in the history of the Copa Libertadores, equaling the feat of Juan Carlos Sánchez in the 1985 edition.

His last goal for River was scored against Club Atlético Huracán, on July 3rd for the sixth round of the 2022 Professional League; it was a 3-2 defeat in what was his penultimate match at the club, thus remaining just one goal away from equaling Rafael Santos Borré as the top scorer (55 goals) of the successful era of Marcelo Gallardo as coach of the "millionaire" team.

Manchester City's dressing room in 2022, Alvarez's shirt number is 19.
On January 31, 2022, after several weeks of negotiations and confirmation from the River Plate president in the preceding days, his sale to Manchester City of England was made official. He signed a five-and-a-half-year contract with "the Citizens," and the transfer was completed for a fee of approximately $24 million. Of this amount,$19 million went to River Plate, which owned 85% of his economic rights, and $1 million went to Club Deportivo Atalaya (C), which owned the remaining 15$1.7 million.

On May 17, 2023, he became the youngest Argentine player (23 years, 3 months and 17 days) to score a goal in the semi-final stages of the UEFA Champions League, by scoring the fourth goal in the 4-0 victory against Real Madrid, in the second leg of the 2022-23 Champions League semi-final.

On June 10, 2023, he achieved a historic treble: the Premier League, FA Cup, and the club's first ever Champions League title. He also became the first Argentinian to win the FIFA World Cup, Copa América, Copa Libertadores, Champions League, and FIFA Club World Cup.
Atlético de Madrid

After several negotiations that lasted 2 months and a series of conflicting statements between him and Pep Guardiola debating his place in the team, after finishing his participation in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, his sale to Atlético Madrid was made official for a total of 75 million euros plus another 20 million in variables for objectives, acquiring 100% of the contract, totaling a package of 95 million euros of which 3.5% (around 3.5M)

They would go to River Plate through solidarity mechanisms. This transfer was the most expensive in Manchester City's history. In the negotiation with Atlético Madrid, it was agreed that Julián Álvarez would own 100% of his image rights (compared to the 75% he held at Manchester City) and sign a 5-year contract. He then ended his time at Manchester City with 103 appearances, 36 goals, 18 assists, and 6 titles.

On March 12, 2025, Julián Álvarez was at the center of controversy during the penalty shootout in the 2024-2025 Champions League Round of 16 match between Atlético de Madrid and Real Madrid. Álvarez, taking Atlético's second penalty, slipped while kicking, and although the ball went into the net, Polish referee Szymon Marciniak disallowed the goal for an alleged "double touch." The controversy went viral, leading to a change in the rules, as Álvarez himself and many media outlets argued that the double touch either didn't exist or wasn't obvious enough to give him an advantage. As a result, after a review of the rules, it was established that if a double touch is unintentional but successful, the penalty should be retaken and not automatically disallowed. This happened to Beth Mead during the 2025 Women's Euro final, where she took the first penalty against Spain and her penalty was converted. However, after a review revealed a double touch, the penalty had to be retaken; subsequently, the shot was saved.
In 2026, Julián was one of FC Barcelona's main targets to fill the center-forward position following Robert Lewandowski's departure. The Catalan club submitted an offer close to €100 million, which was flatly rejected by Atlético Madrid, who repeatedly stated that they would not sell him for any higher sum and would only honor his €500 million release clause.