Lucas Barrios, a globetrotter football (Kicker)

Thirteen years later, Lucas Barrios can see everything from a different perspective. While playing in 1999 for very small teams of Argentina, led by his father, the master builder Eugenio, Lucas did not imagine that just over a decade later, a humble club as Barracas Central from the Third Division, would build a sector of audiences and eight press box with the money from the rights training came by the pass from Colo Colo to Borusia Dortmund in 2009. Not only that, the club president Claudio Tapia, now aspires to nothing less than direct Argentine Federation (AFA) if he win the elections when the year ends.

If his father was very important not to let football when he was rejected by Hurricane ("I was left free for ‘dwarf’. I was small and skinny and just when I was 16 my stature improved," he says now, with his 1.88 meters and shoes number 43), his mother, Petrona Caceres, Paraguayan origin, gave him the chance to become citizen despite being born in Argentina and in this country have made his first steps.

This recent America Cup in Chile, plus a good present in the Paraguayan national team, brought him back many memories and several casualties. "Is that with Ramón Díaz, who was a great striker and is a very good coach, I also have in common a recent past because in 2013 he wanted to take me to River Plate, and even failed to materialize, now we coincide on the Paraguayan national team, while with Ricardo Gareca I debut in Professional Football in Argentinos Juniors, and against him in the match for third place in Chile, me playing for Paraguay and he directing Peru"she says.

But in this America's Cup there were more casualties. "I was able to mark on the final the goal to Argentina, in the group stage, which runs Gerardo Martino, who was the one who asked me for the Paraguayan national team for the 2010 World Cup and the America Cup 2011, which was when I was nationalized, and I was now sitting on the opposite bench. That's football", he reflects.

The Barrio’s path includes eight countries and three continents and 12 clubs in the Professional Football, plus four others, above, in teams of B, C and D category. A struggle from far below, through all kinds of stages, with arguments, fights and very bad times in between. A real fighter.

Is that Barrios does not much stress, but when debuted at Argentinos Juniors in 2003 quickly descended to Second Division(National B), although he has only good memories for his first coach, Gareca: "He was important because he told me to stop moving at the ends and to entered more the area". At that time, he played with a tattoo of his newborn son Thomas, in his forearm, he was accompanied by a young Leonardo Pisculichi, now playing with River Plate the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores de América.

At the time, an almost unknown Barrios was on loan to Tigre, but had no success and returned to Argentinos Juniors, but coach Osvaldo Sosa, nor taken into account and that was when he decided the great unexpected step: go to Chile to play in the Deportes Temuco in 2005. But the club was in crisis and failing to pay their players for months, it ended discounting points that led to its relegation to the Second Division, even though Lucas has got 12 goals. Almost they sell him to Audax Italiano, but rumors of indiscipline blocked the operation.

So it was that without much direction, Barrios returned to Argentina to play in 2006 for a small club in Santa Fe, Tiro Federal, and with one goal in 12 games, returned to Chile to play in Cobreloa, where became separated from team for a discussion with the coach Jorge Aravena, but there his luck changed and they won the Clausura tournament to reach the Pre-Libertadores Cup playoffs where they were eliminated by Colo Colo.

Already in the 2006/7 season, Barrios scored 18 goals, in what was his final breakthrough in the Cobreloa and there appeared the Mexican Necaxa, but did not do well and by 2008 returned to Chile, again, although to play in Colo Colo to replace Humberto Suazo, a star in this club. And although he lost the tournament final against Everton, Lucas had 19 goals again in 2009 although he received a two-game suspension for making a gesture meaning as the referee was paid, in a classic against the team Universidad Católica.

Colo Colo was Chilean champion in 2008 and Barrios came to get 37 goals in the 38 games of the season, becoming the world scorer of the year. "I remember it was such my succes in Chile that I was proud that 200.000 people asked by facebook to nationalize me to play for The Red", he says.

Since 2009, the story is better known, when he arrived at Borusia Dortmund and became the third scorer in the Bundesliga in an attack that had Kagawa, Götze, Grosskreutz and Lewandowski and maintain a very good level, which projected him to the Paraguayan selection that almost eliminated Spain in the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup and was a finalist for the 2011 America Cup.

In mid-2012, he was transferred to Guangzhou Evergrande of China by 9 million euros, where he won the League and Cup, and was transferred in the following two seasons first to Spartak Moscow and then to Montpelier, to end now playing in the Palmeiras of Brazil.

The fact that Chile sits well to Barrios was checked again in the recent America Cup, where he finished fourth with Paraguay team of the Argentine coach, Ramón Díaz ("He wanted to take me to River to replace David Trezeguet," he says), scoring three goals.

"It was a shame to have fallen to Argentina 6-1 in the semifinals but we had injuries and we had played too early and we could not recover, but now we are stronger and we came to no longer compete but to win the tournament," he said.

Today, Barrios is already another. It's "The Panther" within the football environment, and while he will begin his time at Palmeiras in Brazil, does not rule finish his career at River.

"It would be nice to be near my family and because I was always a River’s fan. From boy I wear those colors on my notebook and my companions named me "the millionaire" (the club's nickname)", says a moved Barrios, who has always eight siblings await him.

Neither quits to continue fighting with Paraguay to reach the 2018 World Cup, although he knows that is a very complicated business. "We were low mood for having been left out of Brazil 2014 but Ramón Díaz lifted us up and now we know we can fight for a place, although there will be too many competitive teams in the South American group," he gets excited.