Hasta El Gol Siempre

…being a professional footballer when a member of your family is one of the best players on the planet. But Maxi Biancucchi isn’t doing too badly for himself lately. In June, Lionel Messi’s cousin won the Paraguayan Apertura with Sportivo Luqeño, scoring eight goals and impressing so much with his line-leading duties that he came to the attention of Brazilian giants Flamengo.

Having now been there a little while, Biancucchi is impressing the Brazilian media, who after Carlos Tevez’s recent spell at Corinthians must be getting a little tired of Argentines being amongst their league’s best players. And on Thursday night came probably the biggest match of his career so far. If there’s one derby in South America that comes close to Argentina’s superclásico for passion, it’s Brazil’s Fla-Flu, and Biancucchi scored the only goal of the game in the 42nd minute, to lift Flamengo out of the relegation zone and up to the heady heights of 18th place.

‘He kept his cool to score his first goal for Flamengo with a beautiful touch,’ reported Brazilian daily O Globo. ‘Whilst he was on the pitch, he was tireless.’ For his own part, Biancucchi, 22 years old, thanked the home fans for the support they’d given him, and dedicated the goal, scored in only his second match at the Maracanã, to them.

To see highlights of the match, click here.