Barcelona Sporting Club goalkeeper Javier Burrai is already Ecuadorian and ready to be considered by Félix Sánchez Bas, Spanish coach of the Ecuadorian national team, for the October rounds of South American qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Burrai, born October 9, 1990 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, received his naturalization letter last Thursday afternoon at the ECU911 facility at the Av entrance. Samborondon.
Official: Javier Burrai, goalkeeper of Barcelona SC, receives the naturalization certificate as an Ecuadorian
And amid the euphoria of the Yellow fans, midfielder Adonis Preciado went live on his Instagram account and declared: “Burrai is already Ecuadorian and some are very angry, it’s better I don’t talk.”
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“He deserves it. People (to your Instagram followers), you know you deserve it. Some are very angry that their mouths reach from here to San Lorenzo, but what can you do,” he continued in his interaction with his followers.
“I won’t talk anymore because then they’ll get angry. From here (from the live broadcast) the very brave invaders will come out,” he concluded.
Burrai arrived in Ecuador in mid-2018 to defend the Macará Gate and in 17 months he became one of its leaders. He was used in 55 games and kept a clean sheet in 18 duels; In total, he scored 50 goals in 4,897 minutes of play.
His performance in the national tournament allowed Carlos Alfaro Moreno, who took over as president of Barcelona in December 2019, to hire him to complement his sports project.
In his first season (2020) with the Bullfighters, which was interrupted by quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Burrai shone in the early stages of the Copa Libertadores, but in the Phase 3 match against Cerro Porteño, which his club defeated by 4 points defeated -0 in Asunción suffered a collision with striker Jorge Benítez in which he broke part of his face.
And in October of the same year his father died, but this emotional blow did not affect his performance and he managed to be a support for the Canaries and reach the final of the Pro League, in which he stood out by being in the Penalty shootout saved two shots. (3-1 in favor of the Guayaquileños, then a draw at 1 in total points), so that his team celebrates its Olympic return for the first time in its history at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado Stadium.
In 2021, the goalkeeper was key to the Libertadores reaching the semi-finals, where they lost to Flamengo of Brazil (the final score was 4-0).
With the Bullfighters, the goalkeeper has played 143 official games and scored an unbeaten goal in 55 games. They have scored 133 goals in 12,793 minutes on the pitch.
Now Barcelona fans are hoping that coach Sánchez Bas will call him up for the qualifiers against Bolivia in La Paz and Colombia in Quito on October 12th and 17th, in that order.
Burrai’s competition will be held with Hernán Galíndez, also naturalized and Aucas player, Alexander Domínguez (Liga de Quito) and Moisés Ramírez (Independiente del Valle) (D).
