Its close proximity to Colombia makes Loja a hub for drug dealers and illegal drug trafficking, and the rampant cocaine gang wars only add to the woes of the city. Despite all the problems of the city, however, self-sufficiency is one of Loja’s most notable characteristics. This quality formed an indispensable part of Valencia’s upbringing and is a big reason for why he is a resilient, hard-working and self-sufficient personality. This is encapsulated in that blistering sprint in the dying seconds against Boro.

Paul Jewell, who managed the Ecuadorian during his three-year stint at Wigan Athletic, was surprised to see Valencia cope so well with a foreign culture and lifestyle despite some linguistic obstacles; Valencia did not know any English and was barely able to read Spanish when he joined the Latics on an initial loan spell from Villarreal back in 2006. Jewell told the Daily Mail in an interview in 2009: "He could easily have buckled but there was no moping in a hotel. Antonio, though his English was minimal, quickly got a house and a car. That self-reliance, which can be rare, impressed me."

His deprivations as a child from the Amazon rainforests have imbued within him an uncanny ability to make impeccable use of his strengths to overshadow his weaknesses, much like how Nueva Loja has managed to depend on itself even during turbulent times. His adaptability to his new right-back role was doubted by many; as if the questions that once surrounded him when he first came to England as a ‘nobody’ weren’t enough. But, his no-nonsense attitude towards the game and determination to do the job that he has been assigned have established him as a regular for Manchester United.

It can well be argued that Valencia was never meant to play for a club as big as Manchester United. Having been brought up in a house that would later comprise of five brothers, one sister, and his parents, the only job young Valencia had was to provide some company and help his mother sell drinks outside the Carlos Vernaza Stadium at Loja. Once a set of bottles got used up and he was done with that job for the day, Valencia would head off with his father to look for more empty bottles so that they could earn some money by selling them at a bottle deposit in the Ecuadorian capital city of Quito.

It’s fair to say Valencia’s family struggled to make ends meet. Yet despite everything he went through, the Manchester United player doesn’t feel that his childhood was riddled with hard times. “My childhood was very happy. While my dad worked, all the members of the family worked together to help bring food to our home,” he says.

Little Valencia always managed to take time off from his odd jobs to play football barefoot with his friends next to his bungalow in Loja. When he was 11, though, Tony V was spotted playing with his friends at a field by a scout called Papi Perlaza, who stood impressed by Valencia’s ability to run rings around the older players on the pitch. And Papi, who had experience of playing, having plied his trade with Ecuadorian second division club Colon, helped Valencia sign for a local sports academy in Sucumbios.

While the move now seems a minuscule one in Valencia’s career, it marked his very first steps of being a professional footballer. Playing conditions at Sucumbios weren’t good enough, but Valencia’s desire to play the game that he loves saw him take to a flooded pitch and have regular kickabouts at the academy. When the pitches weren’t flooded with rainwater, their general shoddiness were a barrier to Valencia’s progress, but to no avail. Perlaza still uses Tono (Valencia’s childhood nickname) as an example to teach young players about a lot of values that they must have, if they want to replicate the winger.

He once told an Ecuadorian daily El Universo: "Antonio is an example to follow. I tell them (his players), 'Look, you're better than Antonio was when he was your age.' That motivates them. I know it's an exaggeration, but I have to do it because there are football players here and they just lack motivation," he said.

Perlaza also tells the youngsters, “Antonio sat there. Like some of you, he walked with broken shoes, shabbily dressed, hungry, but his perseverance has made him get where he is. You can do it, too.”

After having played for over four years in Sucumbios, Valencia attracted attention from one of Ecuador’s most popular clubs - Club Deportivo El Nacional, who are a military administered side based in the capital city of Quito. Around 16 years of age at that time, Valencia decided not to tell anything about the offer to his father, but had made his intentions about leaving for Quito clear to his mother and elder brother, Carlos.

Valencia was handed the bus fare for travel by Carlos himself, and the decision to set off on the two-day journey for Quito was made. He was on his own in the capital of the country he came from, in a city where he knew no one. Valencia once said: "I didn't tell my father because I knew he wouldn't let me go.”

Valencia said, “It was the first time I ever left. I was nervous because I didn't know where I was going to sleep or where I was going to eat. But, if you have a dream and you want to make it come true, that is what you do."

Valencia started off at El Nacional by playing in central midfield, as he became accustomed to playing against and with players who lived in barracks and took regular part in military training. Playing and operating under stringent watch and commandment brought the best out of Valencia; it still does, considering how he refuses to get exhausted in a game, despite all the work he puts in. A famous instance from his time in Quito suggests that his will to succeed was strong ever since he began his journey to the top.

Upon being advised to increase his pasta consumption, Valencia confused the word ‘pasta’ with ‘toothpaste’, since the latter translates into Spanish as ‘pasta dental’. Such was his obedience that a young Valencia somehow managed to swallow tubes of Colgate, without realising that he had committed an error out of determination.

That determination began paying off quicker than he could have ever imagined, as Valencia was handed a debut in the El Nacional Under-20s side. A year before being called up to the Ecuadorian national side, Valencia had become a regular for his club side and was already playing alongside one of his role models, Édison Méndez. It was during this time that Valencia also developed a bond with late Ecuadorian striker Christian ‘Chucho’ Benitez, someone who he later played against as a United player.

After winning the Serie A with El Nacional in 2005, appearing on 14 occasions and scoring four times, Valencia’s performances had began attracting interest from Europe. Manuel Pellegrini, who was then in charge of Villarreal, decided to move for the winger, and the Yellow Submarine shelled out €2 million to acquire his services.