All the players stand shoulder to shoulder. All except Willian Pacho, hands clasped, knees planted on the Anfield turf.
PSG is moments away from knocking out Liverpool in a penalty shootout, at the end of the Champions League round of 16 second leg. Unbreakable over the 120 minutes, the 23-year-old centre-back prays. Then screams with joy when Désiré Doué sends Alisson the wrong way. At the very same moment, so do most of the 122,000 residents of Quinindé, located 9,000 kilometres away.
“Every one of his matches is an event here,” confirms Byron Cedeño, one of the first coaches of the sturdy defender at Huracán, a small local amateur club.
“He’s become a hero in Ecuador.”
Especially in his hometown, located deep in the often-overlooked Esmeraldas province in the northwest of the South American country of 17 million people….