Cristian Pavon is a relatively unknown name to audiences outside of South America, albeit one linked with Barcelona and Arsenal, among others. The Boca Juniors winger has spent his career to date in Argentina’s top flight and only made his debut for the senior national team last November, in a 1-0 win over World Cup hosts Russia.
Now, he looks set to start in their most important match in months.
Cristian is a player with enormous potential, he can really turn a match around for us,” head coach Jorge Sampaoli said on Wednesday.
“Cristian is a player who is extremely highly respected in the squad. Obviously, he hasn’t played many matches for Argentina so we can’t burden him with a complete responsibility but we definitely have in him a special card we can play if the situation becomes complicated.”