AS Monaco defender Ruban Aguilar has been called on to represent his country at the international level of the beautiful game as the Blues prepare for their triple header against Finland, Portugal and Sweden. Aguilar will surely be excited to be selected by a national team, but this isn’t the first time. Three years prior, when the Frenchman was playing for Montpellier, he was asked to join La Verde, the Bolivian national team.
The 26 year-old was born in France to a French mother and Spanish father, so there isn’t much of a link to the South American nation. Aguilar claimed in 2017 that he had to reject the bizarre proposal put forward by Bolivia to represent the country with La Verde. After some head scratching, it became determined that the cause of the seemingly random call-up was an error in the database of the Football Manager video game, which gave Aguilar French-Bolivian dual nationality.
On the back of a particularly strong run of performances with the red and white’s Ligue 1 rivals, Montpellier, Aguilar attracted a significant amount of attention from Bolivians on social media. This newfound celebrity status in the far-away continent lead to him becoming a TV topic, with some channels reaching out for an interview from the South American country.
Unsurprisingly, Aguilar had no real connection to Bolivia and thus couldn’t represent the country, even if he wanted to. Nevertheless, he now finds himself joining his captain Wissam Ben Yedder as part of the French international squad, the defending world champions. His place in the squad became available on Monday, as Houssem Aouar sustained an injury for Lyon during the weekend. Aguilar’s first taste of international action will be on Wednesday, November 11 as France face off against Finland.
Featured image courtesy of AS Monaco FC
