Carles Soria: “In Estoril I have everything I need to grow”

The Estoril Praia Sports Group is the great sensation of Portuguese football this season. Last May he achieved promotion to the First Division and, after nine days in the elite, he is fourth only behind Benfica, Porto and Sporting CP. The ‘canaries’ are experiencing a ‘deja vu’, since in the campaign after their last promotion they managed to surprise locals and strangers with a fifth place that allowed them to play the group stage of the Europa League. If they manage to repeat the feat, much of the credit will go to a Spaniard, Carles Soria (Igualada, 1996), who has taken over the right back of the team led by Bruno Pinheiro. “Our goal is still salvation,” he discovered before taking on Benfica. Portugal has changed his life.

How is it?

Very good, really. We are at a time where I would deceive you if I said that we are wrong. It would be selfish of us to say that. I’m personally enjoying it a lot. In my best moment.

Is there a lot of euphoria? Estoril is recently promoted and they are fourth only behind the big three.

We are not going to fool ourselves, the discourse remains the same and that is what is taking us to where we are. Our approach is match by match, although it sounds very typical. The first objective is salvation, you have to be aware that you come from the Second Division and if you change the objectives so quickly, the host that you can hit is very big. It is better to set a realistic goal, which is salvation, and the sooner we achieve it, the sooner we can think of other things.

Bruno Pinheiro – his coach – said that your secrets are humility and quality. Do you share it?

It is what is breathed in the dressing room and what is leading us to have so many successes these last two years. Promotion to the First Division, the Cup semi-finals, being fourth in the First Division … The key is to focus on the next game and think about how you can be better than your rival. It is the only way you can be successful in this sport.

At a football level, what is the key to this Estoril?

We are a very methodical team, very tactical. Our game is based on having a lot in having the ball and figuring out what is the best way to do damage through it. We work a ball exit in which it is important that the times we reach the rival area we do so in numerical superiority, so the chances are very clear. That is why both the goalkeeper and the defenders have so much responsibility: we participate in the offensive process with the aim of making life easier for those at the top.

He has gone through the Espanyol quarry in two stages and through AEK Larnaca, but where he is doing best is in Portugal. What is the key to this success?

Here I have to congratulate myself, because what I am achieving is thanks to the work of many years. For example, for me summer vacations do not exist. I have always worked to be prepared for whatever comes next. I analyze my games to detect my weak points. When you detect your weak points and work on them is when growth begins. If you sustain yourself with what you do well, you stop improving in many other things. The Portuguese league is one of the six or seven best leagues in Europe and you are obliged to give a high level. On a defensive level I have taken a step forward because I am meeting very powerful opponents offensively speaking. I think I have improved a lot. Now I need to take a step at the offensive level and start giving assists. I have a lot of room for improvement at the offensive level, but at the defensive level I have taken a great leap thanks to the regularity that I am having due to the confidence of the coach.

Do you think the Portuguese league is undervalued?

In this sense, I differentiate two large groups of people. People who make a living from this, such as agents or sports directors, have very controlled the Portuguese league. People on the street not so much. For example, in Spain the Portuguese league is not given visibility and we are neighbors. But the people who suck on this do have it under control because it is an inexhaustible source of talent and a great showcase. In Portugal a lot of talent is generated. There is a lot of quality, but it is not given visibility. That my family can’t see me from Spain is something that hurts, but we have to live with it.

What big differences do you detect between the Spanish and Portuguese league?

The big difference is the physique. Here we seek more contact, the long ball, disputes, duels … It is a tougher football that depends a lot on the forwards. In Spain a more associative football is tried, which does not mean that it is more productive. Players come out of the quarries with that gene. The Spanish footballer has a much more developed tactical thinking and that is greatly appreciated when you go out to other countries because you adapt much faster because of everything you have already learned.

As a right-back, who do you notice?

Lately I’ve been looking at Juan Foyth, Villarreal’s right-back, a lot. He is a player who had never been a winger. He started from central, pivot … Suddenly he arrives at Villarreal, they put him on the wing and he does everything well. He can play against Rashford, he can play against Ansu Fati, he can play against whoever is never going to be portrayed in defense. I think that many times we put aside our job as defenders because we are also asked to attack well, but when I see Juan Foyth I think: ‘If he does it, who is playing in the elite, I too can learn and become like he’. He’s the player I’ve been looking at the most lately.

What is your best quality?

I think the ability to find the free man and know where to attack. The understanding of the game, come on. In the end, being able to understand football and be smart on the field is a virtue that is highly appreciated today. If you are part of a very tactical system and understand the game, you solve many problems that each game poses and thus you enjoy much more. Many times we do not like to think, but doing it and understanding the game and why things happen on the field is very cool.

The experience in Cyprus was not entirely good, were you not afraid to go abroad when Estoril called you?

No, because I am a person who believes that you grow when you leave your comfort zone. When you are with your friends and your family, everything is very beautiful, but you do not live reality because you are in your habitat. When you get out of there and really expose yourself is when you grow the most. At that moment I thought that not because I had gone wrong the first time I was going to go wrong the second. You have to trust yourself. I was going to Portugal, which is very close to home, to a category with a lot of visibility. I was not going anywhere strange and that gives you confidence. When I was there for two weeks, I already knew that I was right. Estoril is a super structured club, with top infrastructures, family friendly, with a spectacular stadium … It was everything I needed to grow as a player and as a person. And so it is.

He went down to Third with the Espanyol subsidiary, he went to Cyprus and did not do well … What do you think when I tell you that this weekend he faces Benfica?

Life has completely changed me. It surprises me how in two or three years I have gone from one extreme to another. I am fourth in Portugal, this weekend I play against Benfica … I think back and think that I was not prepared to live all that, but it helped me to grow. Things happen for a reason and I learn from everything. If I could go back, I would change some things, but it is something that has made me improve. I experienced things that I will never experience again as before the Europa League, winning the Cyprus Cup … For example, in Cyprus I played little, but I felt part of the group and from there I took many friends and experiences. On a football level I was frustrated, without all those moments I would not be enjoying it so much now.

How do you face a game like next weekend’s?

Like any other. We are going to play against 11 guys and we are going to try to get our hands on them being true to our style. We like to be the protagonists because that is how football is enjoyed the most. If you throw yourself 80 games behind the ball, locked in your area and waiting for the virgin to come down in minute 81, I already tell you that in 30 ‘you are going to lose 3-0. You can win, but the feeling you get is much less rewarding. The difference is abysmal. Benfica has a huge budget and is a much bigger club, but we will try to do our best and go for the game as if it were one more.

Why is it nicknamed ‘the claw’?

It is something that has always been with me. I am one of those who fight each game as if it were the last. For me there are no friendly matches. I feel bad when I don’t give my maximum. They pay us to play soccer. We are lucky. If you do not give your maximum when you are doing what you like to do the most, you are making a mistake.

You get paid to play soccer, do you think about that a lot?

Many times. Sometimes when I am alone I reflect and realize that I am privileged. I have friends who get up at seven in the morning to go to work, or my family itself, who are lifelong currela. Then there is you, who do what you like and on top of that they pay you for it. This week you are playing against Benfica, with the stadium full, with the repercussion that this has … It’s to stop your head and say: ‘Hey, congratulate yourself because it’s something that you have achieved with your work, but value it.’

Have you ever been close to the Espanyol first team?

I have been trained many times, but the time has never come. I left with that thorn stuck because I was 12 years in the quarry and I did not make my debut with the first team, which was what I fought for every day. My dream was that: to culminate all those years of work reaching the top of everything. Staying at the gates after four years as a subsidiary tasted bad, but my career took another path, which is neither better nor worse, it is my path.

Is it a dream that you have already given up?

No, it is impossible to close the doors to what was your house. I’ve always said it, the esteem I have for the club is enormous. I feel part of Espanyol because there I lived many things. Winning youth leagues, being captain of the subsidiary, good years, bad years … All that weighs. I’d be lying if I said I don’t want to go back one day. It would be closing the circle, but we’ll see where my career goes. Now I am traveling another path.

Would you recommend playing in Portugal?

If someone asks me, I would tell them not to think about it. I think it’s the perfect place to get your career off the ground. We have Fer Navarro at Gil Vicente, Toni Martínez in Porto, Pedro Porro at Sporting CP with Sarabia, Mario González and Abel Ruiz at Braga … Almost all of them are in a great moment. When you leave Spain you see the level you have acquired. In all places there are Spanish triumphing. We are not aware of everything we learn in Spain. Portugal is a country where you can stand out a lot. It is clear that nothing comes without work, but the impact it has is immense.