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Seven things older than record-breaking goalscorer Fernando Ovelar

Fernando Ovelar is a name you’ll probably be hearing a lot this week.

The Paraguayan teenager became the youngest ever goalscorer in his country’s clásico when he put Cerro Porteño ahead in front of a huge crowd in Asunción against fierce rivals Olimpia.

Ovelar’s coolly-taken goal put Cerro Porteño ahead in a game which ended on a sour note for the visitors as Olimpia’s Jorge Ortega equalised from the penalty spot deep into stoppage time.

However, even that couldn’t take away from Ovelar’s achievements – the goal, in his second ever professional game, arrived two months before his 15th birthday.

You don’t hear about too many 14-year-olds getting anywhere near first team football, let alone scoring on this kind of stage, but it can be hard to gauge just how young he is without some points of comparison.

Ovelar was born in January 2004, a couple of weeks before The Passion of the Christ was released.

But, if we want to really up the ‘feel old yet?’ stakes, here are some things you’ll remember vividly, but which Ovelar won’t because he wasn’t even born when they came into being.

Peep Show

One of the best new sitcoms to arrive on British TV this century, Peep Show had its first season air on Channel 4 by the time Ovelar was born.

Mark, Jez, Sophie and even Johnson had all come into being in October 2003, a few months before the young footballer was welcomed into this world.

England’s rugby World Cup triumph

You probably remember exactly where you were when Jonny Wilkinson converted that drop goal in extra-time to bring World Cup glory.

Ovelar doesn’t, though, because he wasn’t even born when England saw off Australia in Sydney to win the Webb-Ellis Cup.

Arctic Monkeys

Since their formation, Arctic Monkeys have seen their sound develop greatly over the course of six albums, the most recent arriving in 2018 in the form of Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino.

Ovelar has developed n the same period, from ‘baby unable to speak’ into ‘goalscorer in Paraguay derby’, but was still in the womb when Alex Turner and his bandmates played their first ever gig in June 2003.

The Xbox

When Ovelar eventually finds his way onto a version of the FIFA series of games, many of those playing will be doing so on a console which has evolved from something released more than a year before his birth.

The PlayStation might have gone through a series of evolutions before arriving at its current format, but even the Xbox predates the forward, having been released in the US in late 2001.

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The Lord of the Rings films

Not only was Ovelar born after The Fellowship of the Ring, but follow-ups The Two Towers and The Return of the King also came into this world before him.

The third film, with its $94m budget, premiered a full month before Ovelar was born in Asunción, and his parents could probably have left him with family and still caught the film at cinemas when he was a couple of weeks old.

Twenty20 Cricket

The release of a new, ‘more exciting’ format of cricket, meant to appeal to a younger generation, was first mooted in 2002 and came into being in June 2003 with the first ever matches played in the UK.

Less than seven months later, Fernando Ovelar was born – time will tell when it comes to determining which has the bigger impact on the world of sport.

simon-katich

The Roman Abramovich Era

Roman Abramovich took control of Chelsea half a year before Ovelar’s birth, meaning the Paraguayan youngster can be forgiven for only having ever known the Blues as a European superclub – he was even born after that interesting first ever starting line-up under the Russian’s ownership.

If you mentioned the name Ken Bates to him then he’d probably have no idea who you were talking about. As for the first Chelsea signing made after Ovelar’s birth? None other than Scott Parker.

chelsea

READ: Where are they now? Chelsea’s first starting XI under Roman Abramovich


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