The former coach of Arsenal’s Piero Hincapie and Paris St-Germain’s Willian Pacho is excited to attend the Champions League final on Saturday and watch the two battle for European football’s most coveted prize.
The centre-backs played for Miguel Angel Ramirez while at Independiente del Valle in Ecuador and were team-mates for a year before Hincapie joined Talleres in 2020.
The Ecuador internationals went on to play one another again when Pacho was at Eintracht Frankfurt and Hincapie was at Bayer Leverkusen two seasons ago, but now they will compete against one another in the Champions League final.
“It’s crazy,” said Ramirez on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Euro Leagues podcast. “They made their debut in the first team with me and now they are playing together in the Champions League final.
“They are competitive animals [and have been] since they were in the academy. Piero [Hincapie] especially, he was under-18 when he joined us in the first team, and was really good on the ball and had good understanding.
“Both of them are really good competitors and beasts.
“I’m in touch with them, and I got a text from Pacho a few weeks ago asking if I was coming to the final, but I said I couldn’t make it because I’m coaching.
“But I got sacked a few weeks ago, so straight after I texted him and said: ‘I’m in and I’m going!’
“I am so happy because it’s a great opportunity for me to see them play and it’s a positive side of the story [being sacked].”
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