Miguel Ángel Ramírez says Willian Pacho and Piero Hincapié were shaped at Independiente del Valle, and their paths have now brought them to opposite sides of the Champions League final. For Ramírez, that makes Sunday’s match more than a European showcase. It is a public measure of how far two Ecuadorian defenders have come from the same academy setup.
Ramírez, who arrived at Independiente del Valle as director of football base in 2018, has watched Pacho turn into one of PSG’s central defenders after a long climb that began with raw physical gifts and plenty of rough edges. He said Pacho first stood out because he was huge, tall and strong, but his coordination with the ball lagged behind. The defender’s growth, in Ramírez’s words, has been spectacular.
That judgment carries weight because it comes from the coach who saw him at the start. Ramírez said Pacho improved through match after match at Independiente del Valle and then through steps in Belgium and Germany, until he reached the level he now shows in Paris. He also noted that Piero Hincapié is one year younger, a reminder that the two defenders developed on related tracks but not at the same pace.
Pacho’s rise was not only physical. Ramírez said the defender matured later than some players and that a personal change mattered as much as any technical one: after his mother died, Pacho felt less pressure to become a professional footballer. Ramírez said he spoke with him about that shift during a conversation in Paris, and that the change in mentality helped explain why his game has settled so cleanly at the top level. He also said Pacho has adapted very well to what Luis Enrique asks of his defenders.
There was still a time when even the talent looked fragile. Ramírez recalled having to call Pacho to the bench in the first half of one of their early matches together to calm him down, and he said the player’s hands sweat when he gets nervous. It is a small detail, but it fits the larger arc: the same defender who once needed soothing is now part of a PSG side that went from title celebrations last year to ordering him out of the stadium when he was caught up in the party.
Independiente del Valle has become a dependable source of top Ecuadorian talent, and this final puts that production line in the center of European football. For Ramírez, the sharper question is no longer whether Pacho and Hincapié belonged at this level. It is how far their path can still stretch after they meet on the game’s biggest stage.
