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Liam Wood

Meet the real Santiago Muñez - Newcastle United's famous fictional hero making Liga MX impact

Santiago Muñez was everyone's favourite fictional football hero during the noughties - and his real-life namesake has now taken his first step to stardom.

Played by Kuno Becker, the main protagonist in sports drama film series Goal! first appeared on our screens back in 2005, starting his career with non other than Newcastle United.

Before going on to play for the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid, the Mexican-born superstar was given his big chance after being spotted playing in Los Angeles by Glen Foy - his fellow fictional former Magpie.

And the rest, as they say, is cinematic history...

Lee Ryder on Newcastle United striker Callum Wilson's injury

Back to reality, a player by the same name - albeit with the slightly different spelling of Muñoz - has burst on to the scene in his native Mexico, which hasn't gone unnoticed by Newcastle fans on social media.

Inspired by Muñoz, who has drawn comparisons with Premier League striker Raúl Jiménez (Wolves), Santos Laguna are six games unbeaten at the start of the 2021 Liga MX season.

That includes their 1-0 victory against Monterrey this weekend, where the 18-year-old started for the first time.

With the number 192 on his back, Muñoz - who was born in El Paso and has represented his country at the Under-17 World Cup, while also remaining eligible for the United States - played in the number 10 role in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

It came on the back of his goalscoring cameo against Club América, meaning the talented forward has featured in four of the Santos' six Liga MX games so far.

At the tender age of 18, we are sure to hear more about the highly-rated Muñoz in the coming months and years.

But will he follow in the footsteps of his famous compatriots, Javier Hernández and Jiménez - or even his fictional namesake Muñez - in making it to the Premier League?

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