Christian Gray, teacher who ruined Boca’s run: “I’ll stick with River” | OneFootball

The vast majority of fans will never see him play again, but there is no doubt that Christian Gray will be remembered for a long time in Argentine football. The Auckland City defender, who also worked as a teacher at a school in his city, was the unexpected executioner of Boca at the Club World Cup. His goal in the historic 1-1 draw earned him the recognition of River Plate fans, the club he just expressed his sympathy for.

In a recent interview, the center-back and physical education teacher at Mount Roskill Intermediate School and Auckland Primary, who had to take a leave of absence to play in the brand-new tournament in the United States, was once again asked about that match that will go down in New Zealand’s history books. They even put him on the spot, asking him to choose between the Millonario or the Xeneize, but he didn’t blush or dodge the question.

“I received a lot of support from River fans, obviously. I got to meet many Boca fans after the match and they were good people, but I’ll stick with River,” Gray confessed, mate in hand, in a chat with Gianfranco Vella.

That unstoppable header for Agustín Marchesín allowed a semi-professional team to go head-to-head with a South American giant and earn their only point in the Club World Cup, as they had previously been crushed 10-0 by Bayern Munich and 6-0 by Benfica.

Like Gray, most of his teammates don’t live solely from football. Being an Auckland City player is simply another job they need to support their families. The list includes Conor Tracey (forklift operator at a pharmaceutical company), Jerson Lagos (barber), Sebastián Ciganda (came to pick and pack kiwis and now works at a production company), Adam Bell (runs a general goods store), Dylan Manicku (road engineer’s assistant), Adam Mitchell (works in real estate), Joseph Lee (employee at a tech company), and many more.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.