Every day the alarm goes off just minutes after five in the morning. And if you don't hear Flavio Gómez getting ready, either don Rafael or doña Romelia will approach his room and wake him up. His parents know that the journey from Villa El Salvador to La Florida is very long and they don't want the player, who was trained at Sporting Cristal, to arrive late to training.

"They push me every day to keep improving. It was difficult when I didn't have a contract because my parents did whatever they could to gather 10 or 15 soles so I could go train," the 'Bomba' tells Depor.

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"It takes me two hours to get there, so at the latest, I leave my house at 6 in the morning. I get off at the Trujillo bridge, where I was once mugged. It was in 2013, I was in the junior team, and it was a big scare. That day, I still played, made three assists, and if I hadn't been robbed, I would have scored for sure (laughs)," adds Flavio Gómez, who is 21 years old.

Everything is in the family

His 'old man' played four seasons in Deportivo Municipal, where he shared the pitch with 'Panadero' Díaz and Eduardo Malásquez. An injury kept him away from the 'little ball', but he passed on his talent to three of his four children (in addition to Flavio, Gary, the oldest, played professionally with 'Muni'. His twin, Fabio, plays for Laure Sur in the Copa Perú).

"My biggest critic is this gentleman," says Gómez, smiling as he hugs his dad, who proudly wears the shirt his son used in Comerciantes Unidos, the club with which he made his debut in 2017.

"Last year I returned after my loan and it was tough how we ended the tournament. Now we've started very well and we want to win the Torneo de Verano, Apertura, and Clausura," he concluded. The 'Bomba' wants to make a big impact with Sporting Cristal.

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