Luduena claims Falcao nickname credit

Gonzalo Luduena said he nicknamed Radamel Falcao ‘El Tigre’ when the pair were both on the books of Argentine giants River Plate.

He said Falcao’s prowess in front of goal won him numerous accolades and it was from one of those that the name stems from.

“It was me. I gave him it when we played in Division Seven with River’s youth team,” Luduena told AS.

“It was Falcao’s first year in Argentina and I had also recently arrived from Cordoba. To tell you the truth it started as a joke.

“We had just beaten Huracan on one of River’s side pitches and Falcao had scored two.

“At the time, the television programme Futbol de Primera awarded the best player in games the Esso Tiger (from a petrol company advertisement), so I joked with Falcao that he had been tiger on the pitch and from then on I started to call him ‘El Tigre’ in training.

“It stuck and look how it turned out as everyone now calls him that.”

In six league appearances this season Falcao has netted an impressive eight times for Atletico Madrid, a run of form which has seen him linked with a number of Europe’s biggest clubs.