It took just one fell swipe of his right foot against Al Ain FC this past Sunday for whiz-kid Claudio Echeverri to thrust himself into the global limelight. The 19-year-old CA River Plate academy graduate, who joined Manchester City at the beginning of this year, stood over a free kick just outside the box, stepped up and unleashed a fierce, swerving effort that flew into the top of the net. The fiendish strike was worthy of the starlet’s nickname, El Diablito (The Little Devil), which is a nod to his near-namesake, Marco “El Diablo” Etcheverry, considered one of Bolivia’s finest footballers of all time.
Besides living up to comparisons with the Bolivian legend, the screamer against the Emirati outfit also brought Echeverri into other esteemed company, as it came hot on the heels of compatriot Lionel Messi’s dead-ball beauty for Inter Miami CF against FC Porto.
Moreover, it made the teenager the latest in a long line of goalscorers from his country to have grabbed the headlines to date at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™. By the end of Sunday’s action, no fewer than 16 goals at the competition had been converted by Argentines, with luminaries such as Messi, Angel Di Maria, Lautaro Martinez and Enzo Fernandez joining Echeverri in the scoring charts. No other nation comes close.
The 6-0 thrashing of Al Ain in their second game in Group G will forever be etched in Echeverri’s memory, as he marked his first start for City in style. Before then, the youngster had only made two cameo appearances for the club, coming off the bench to clock up 24 minutes across the FA Cup final loss to Crystal Palace and the Premier League curtain-closer against Fulham last month.
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Having warmed the bench throughout City’s FIFA Club World Cup™ opener against Moroccan side Wydad AC, the attacking midfielder was thrown in at the deep end in Atlanta. Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola was full of praise for his performance – and his work ethic: “I’ll tell you a secret: since he arrived and in the three or four months with the lads, at the end of training sessions, he was practising free-kicks alone, with the keeper, with the wall. The other ones did not practise. He was practising and practising and the work paid off,” gushed the 54-year-old.
“He had the courage and the quality: when you practise, you know, it’s like golf or like basketball, the more you practise free shots, the more chances you have,” added Guardiola. “It was a fantastic goal. He’s an incredible player in small spaces.”
Echeverri is no stranger to shining at a FIFA tournament, having burst onto the scene at the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2023™. His displays at that showpiece event in Indonesia – including a masterclass in the quarter-final against Brazil on 23 November, in which he bagged all three goals – caught City’s eye.
The 17-year-old had featured just four times for River Plate in the Argentinian top flight at that point, but the Blues were determined to snap him up, striking a deal as soon as the prodigious talent had returned to Buenos Aires. City duly loaned Echeverri, who turned 18 on 2 January 2024, back to River, where he continued to cut his teeth until last December. In total, Echeverri played 48 times for his boyhood club, scoring four goals.
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Early this year, weeks after celebrating his 19th birthday, El Diablito dazzled as part of the Argentina team that finished as runners-up to Brazil in the South American U-20 Championship in Venezuela. Echeverri was the Albiceleste’s leading marksman and the second-top scorer overall, his six strikes proving instrumental in securing his country’s spot at this year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup™, which will be held in Chile in September and October.
After that continental competition, the goalscoring midfielder revealed that he had already had a first heart-to-heart with Guardiola. This came amid a rare rough patch for the coach, whose side surprisingly found themselves languishing way off the pace in the Premier League after having won the previous four titles.
Although Echeverri remained on the fringes in the months following that conversation as he continued to bed in, Guardiola clearly saw enough in this period to feel that the teenage sensation warranted a place in his Club World Cup squad. The Argentine certainly seized his opportunity on his maiden start, showcasing not just his set-piece prowess but also his dauntlessness and strength of personality, including by repeatedly calling for the ball. Having made his presence felt, he naturally attracted opposition attention, and he ended up having to come off at the interval with a knock sustained following a challenge by an Al Ain defender.
“He was a bit sore,” said Guardiola. “Unfortunately, he couldn’t continue after half-time because of a problem with the ankle but it was really good that in his first minutes in this competition, he scored a fantastic goal. The free kick was really, really good. When the other guys don’t practise, they won’t score goals. He’s an incredible player – a big, big talent in small spaces – and I’m happy for him.”
One such dilemma concerns Echeverri, who could yet stay at City or be farmed out on loan again in order to keep gaining experience. If City do decide that, Echeverri’s development is best served by another spell elsewhere, he is sure not to be short of suitors – particularly after his heavenly performance on the big stage at the Club World Cup.
