Chile's love affair with LaLiga, from Zamorano to Bravo

The great Carlos Caszely, who made his name in Spanish football in the 1970s, will have to forgive me, but if there is someone who deserves the recognition for the explosion of interest of LaLiga in Chile, it is Ivan Zamorano. In the 90s, with the end of the dictatorship and the country's reintegration into the international community, 'Bam Bam' acted as a kind of informal ambassador with his goals.

He first landed in Sevilla and then moved to Real Madrid where he became the competition's top scorer and won the league title in the 1994-1995 season. These events made a big impact in Chilean popular culture, and Zamorano fired an interest in the Spanish league, and then the rest of European football.

The explosion of cable television did the rest. Nowadays, you can see as many international club shirts as local football team shirts on the streets of Chile. And sometimes even more. It is cheaper to watch the matches of LaLiga BBVA than of our increasingly depleted national tournament, which means children are just as likely to debate over Messi and Cristiano as they are the Cup final that U won against Colo Colo.

The language and the immediacy of technology make it fertile territory for interest in LaLiga to flourish. With a single click, we get to know all about LaLiga immediately, and we now understand the debates between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the rise of Eibar or Simeone's "match by match" philosophy.

And, of course, we follow the latest information on the Chileans. We enjoy Claudio Bravo's success in the Barca goal as if it were our own, we are delighted with the refreshing approach of Berizzo's Celta (he's Argentine, but he coached in Chile) and with Orellana and the 'Tucu' Hernandez, and we are also following the progress of Espanyol defender Enzo Roco.

We like the fact Chile is being talked about in LaLiga. We're proud that in the first world of football people know that, here on the south side of the planet, there is a country from where players can rise to perform at the highest levels. Through the window of LaLiga we find another way to showcase the progress of our football, that this year enjoyed an unforgettable milestone: our first ever triumph in the Copa America.