Maven local repo Cache on azure pipeline not working

I'm having problems with the maven cache in azure-pipelines, even downloading the cache and being able to see that the m2/repository folder exists inside the work, when calling the maven task the files are downloaded again, thus invalidating my attempt to use the cache .

My first attempt was using:

 MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER: $(Pipeline.Workspace)/.m2/repository

Where I had the same error and after some research I found this topic in the community microsoft developercommunity which suggested changing the directory used to create the env MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER

But that didn't solve my problem. Below is my script:

pool:
  vmImage: ubuntu-latest

variables:
  MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER: $(HOME)/.m2/repository
  MAVEN_OPTS: '-Dmaven.repo.local=$(MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER)'

stages:
  - stage: validate
    displayName: VALIDATE
    jobs:
      - job: java_validations
        displayName: Java Validations
        workspace:
          clean: outputs
        steps:
          - checkout: self
            clean: false
          - task: Cache@2
            displayName: 'Cache Maven local repo'
            inputs:
              key: '"funcs" | maven | "$(Agent.OS)" | pom.xml'
              restoreKeys: |
              path: $(MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER)
          - script: |
              mvn validate $(MAVEN_OPTS)
            displayName: Maven Validate
          - script: |
              mvn checkstyle:check $(MAVEN_OPTS)
            displayName: Maven Checkstyle
          - script: |
              tree $(MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER)
            displayName: show MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER tree
      - job: unit_tests
        displayName: Unit Tests
        dependsOn:
          - java_validations
        workspace:
          clean: outputs
        steps:
          - checkout: self
            clean: false
          - task: Cache@2
            displayName: 'Cache Maven local repo'
            inputs:
              key: '"funcs" | maven | "$(Agent.OS)" '
              restoreKeys: |
              path: $(MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER)
          - script: |
              tree $(MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER)
            displayName: show MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER tree
          - task: Maven@3
            inputs:
              mavenPomFile: 'pom.xml'
              options: 'test-compile failsafe:integration-test -Dcheckstyle.skip -Pun-tests $(MAVEN_OPTS)'
              publishJUnitResults: false
              mavenVersionOption: 'Default'
              mavenAuthenticateFeed: true
              effectivePomSkip: false
              sonarQubeRunAnalysis: true
              sqMavenPluginVersionChoice: 'latest'
            env:
              JAVA_HOME: $(JAVA_HOME_17_X64)
              PATH: $(JAVA_HOME_17_X64)/bin:$(PATH)
          - script: |
              tree $(MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER)
            displayName: show MAVEN_CACHE_FOLDER tree