THE INTERVIEW 'Super' Soler: “With this brutal Messi, my favorite is Barça”

Twenty years in the elite of Spanish football distributed among seven First-class clubs with the privilege of having played in the four teams that now top the classification and aspire to the title: Atlético, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla. So did in the first two of Segunda, Espanyol and Mallorca. An unusual case.

The first four teams in the Primera classification have a link: the figure of Miquel Soler (Hostalets d'en Bas, Girona, 56 years old). The tall left-back defended the four shirts that today show his candidacy for the title. In his two decades as a professional (1983-2003) he played for these four clubs and scored at least one goal with all of them. The ‘Nano’, as his teammates called him, now lives football from his watchtower as a Movistar commentator with the same passion as when he played. Every week he reviews the Spanish championship and has become an ‘expert’ in the field with enough knowledge of the cause to analyze what were his teams that are now fighting to be champions.

Athletic. 1st. 73 points.

“If he doesn't win the League, it will be because he lost it alone.”

“If this League is won by someone other than Atlético, it will be because the rojiblancos have lost it alone. Neither Madrid, nor Barcelona, ​​nor Seville would win it. Atlético would lose it. Of the big three, he was the only one who signed an important reinforcement, Luis Suárez. It was a crucial signing, you took a goal away from Barcelona and you won it. It was one of his shortcomings in recent seasons. He took good advantage of how badly Madrid and Barça started, but what happened to him is strange. It is not an occasional team, of a moment, to which the fear of heights could have entered. It is not the case. Atlético has been up for some time with a salary cap that has come very close to that of the two greats.

It is a team that has traditionally been characterized by defending well and this season has had more goals than ever. He is not far from the Barcelona records and is above Real Madrid. This was unthinkable other seasons. As much as in the second round he received 13 goals, he has not lost his defensive ‘dna’. What was not normal is that in the first round he would only have received seven. In this second he has lost 16 points. In the first one she was 50 out of 57. I was surprised by her fall and now she is playing with an anxiety that is not a good counselor. When you see yourself as half a winner and fail, in addition to the fact that the others have done well, you have done very badly.

Simeone with the presence of Luis Suárez has tried to advance lines and that the team in block approached the Uruguayan. He couldn't keep defending that far back. Suárez had to be made to feel strong where the situation dominates, the opposite area. It didn't go bad at first, but afterwards on many occasions it has returned to being the most defensive Atlético we know. Joao Félix has not finished exploding. Not long ago he recognized that he had to work more without the ball. Talent and creativity has. He said he did not want to make the mistake of having no will. It lacks continuity in its performance. The most difficult thing is having talent. Running more or less depends on the will ”.

His rojiblanco past. 1991-92.

“After three years at Barça I was loaned out to Atlético for one year. There I met for the first time with Luis Aragonés and the defense of three center-backs and two long lanes. For my conditions, playing winger in that system was very positive. I always had a good physique. It had a long journey. We fight for the League almost to the end. We finished third and won the Cup final against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu… It was a good team with a lot of balance and two unbalancing players: Schuster and Futre “

Real Madrid. 2nd. 70 points.

“He has two game plans and executes them to perfection”

“Real Madrid is a team with many resources and that brings out the best that it has inside when it needs it most. You usually have two very defined tactical plans. If you want to have the ball, with Modric and Kroos, you never take it away. They make you a rondo and you spend the game running after them. But if he wants to play backlash, he knows how to do it so well that he can beat Liverpool and Barcelona in four days. In the same way. He goes back and plays you with very precise long balls and to run with the speed of Vinicius or Benzema, who attack spaces very well. The greatness of Zidane is that he adapts to what interests him most in each game and executes it perfectly, always from normality. “

His Madrid past (1995-96)

“I came to Madrid after I won the League with Valdano. We had a great squad. I never understood why we didn't win anything. We were not working. We are far from all titles. In the Cup, Espanyol eliminated us in the second round; in the Champions League, Juve in the quarterfinals… It wasn't a question that the team could have lost their hunger to win because they had only won one title, but the fact is that we didn't work out. I have never been able to explain what happened to us. We don't even qualify for the UEFA Cup. Personally, it was a fantastic experience even though I didn't play what I intended … Playing alongside Hierro, Redondo, Zamorano, Alkorta, Luis Enrique, Laudrup, Míchel, Raúl, who was starting … In the end the clause thing happened to me. He had a section that said that he would automatically renew one more year if he played 20 games … and I stayed at 19. The president should have told the coach, Arsenio, that it was not convenient for him to put me on and he didn't put me on more. At that time it was a hard blow, but with the passing of the years you put everything down ”.

Barcelona. 3. 68 points (One game less)

“With this brutal Messi, he is my main favorite”

“Right now, with his ups and downs, he's the one I see the best of the four hopefuls. He depends on himself, like Atlético, but he is in a better predisposition. Real Madrid has the distraction of the Champions League and can be burdened by having to repeat with players who are very worn out. You can leave points as it happened in Getafe. Barça has the reinforcement of the Cup title. There are players who have been revitalized and are reaching this end of the season in a great physical tone. Messi is in a brutal state of play. Stellar, like the best Messi. He is going to improve the scoring records from last year and that is key for the team.

Koeman has found a game system that is perfectly suited to the conditions of the squad. Especially from the sides, Dest and Alba. He has integrated Dembelé and Griezman close to Messi so that the team is balanced. The only doubt I have with Barça is that this year the greats will choke. The most he has done so far is to overcome Sevilla in the Cup and beat them at the Camp Nou in the League, but he has lost both games with Madrid. Atlético beat him at the Metropolitano. PSG gave him a good review in the first leg, Juventus put him 0-3 which was what led him to be second and have to face PSG in the second round.

Despite the defeat of Valdebebas, he is the one who gives me the best feelings. That party that is to kill them. Madrid did the same to them that they had done to Liverpool three days before. They could have learned. It can also be important in this final sprint that has released the burden of not winning titles. For a big team to spend two years without winning anything, it always weighs on them and with the Cup they may have freed themselves, especially because of the way they won the final.

The great quality of the Barça team is that it always tries to lead the game. Some shook their heads when Koeman changed the 1-4-3-3. It seemed untouchable, but there are the results. Also, you have changed the drawing several times. First with 1-4-2-3-1, now with the three centrals. The important thing about Barça is not the drawing, it is the game plan. And that never changes. He wants to be dominating, he wants to snatch the ball from you when he loses it. He wants to play in the opposite field with long possessions, but he also knows how to be vertiginous due to some of the individualities he has. With Barça you always know that he is going to take the ball from you and he is going to put you back ”.

His Barça past. (1988-91 and 92-93)

“I arrived at the same time as Cruyff with everything he meant for Barça and for Spanish football. He broke with everything. He arrived with his triangles, with his rounds applied to the matches. Nothing to do with what was done until then. It was all very shocking. They were large rounds with many players. Johan and Rexach joined the team that had the ball and never lost it. Everything was different with him. He drew a 1-3-4-3. It was difficult for us to adapt, but when we did, there are the fruits. The sum of talent plus repetition, a lot of repetition, was a success. Unforgettable.

The first preseason in 16 days of concentration, we played 15 games the same. That had never been done in Spain. At seven in the morning, physical work. Tactical work at noon. And in the afternoon, to play a match. From the simple to the complex. From less to more. At Barça, everything that has been done since is the son of Cruyff. I was with him for four years ”.

4th. Seville. 67 points

“His great handicap is that he doesn't beat the big boys”

“Sevilla have a handicap, that they do not win the games against the rivals with whom they compete directly. To be a champion you have to beat those direct rivals. Those points are worth more than others, although it is always said that they are worth the same. In the absence of the game against Madrid in three days, that has not done. He only beat Atleti, but he did not even overcome the goal average. He also has it against Barça and, for now, Madrid because he lost in the first round at Sánchez Pizjuán. If you don't beat the greats, you can't take the title from them because they also do the same as Sevilla, which is to beat the others. In the current moment to be champion he has to wait for the three ahead of him to fail. But whatever happens, Sevilla is having the best season in its history. With this average score of 2.6 points per game, he would go to 78 points and exceed 76 from 13-14 with Emery.

As a team, I like Sevilla and also a lot. I have always liked teams that always do the same, that even though they can be predictable, it is difficult to neutralize them. I also like teams that do not change from home to abroad. In addition, Lopetegui's team has the flexibility to adapt to what the game demands. To everything. If you give him the ball, he wants it. If you give him ground, he wants it. Who gets ahead and gets behind, also knows how to behave. He knows how to attack against, he knows how to attack positionally. He knows how to shoot centers from the wing with Navas and Acuña; He has headers, he has set pieces, he has players that unbalance in one on one. He knows how to go looking for you, but also wait for you. Everything makes it very natural. It is difficult even to make shots, not goals. It adapts to everything. As Bielsa said, Sevilla can change their suit in each game and within the same game. Now the dominator suit, now the counterpuncher … And he performs both ways without changing his 1-4-3-3 ”.

His Sevilla past. (1993-95)

“I arrived transferred by Barcelona. I came from a kneecap injury in my last Barça year. There I meet Luis, who had left Atlético. He asked for my signing. They were two good years. We are fifth and sixth. We played well. I went back to playing lane. Luis liked it a lot and now it is a system that is in fashion. Luis was very complete as a coach. He had knowledge. He knew how to pass them on to the players. He had a good management of the squad, including non-starters. It dominated everything. It gave freedom to the player when he passed from the center of the field. He dominated the reading of the game. He always had a plan B and a plan C. He knew the players he needed for his football. This is very important”.

From First to Second and the role of Miquel Soler continues. The top two finishers and top contenders for promotion, Espanyol and Mallorca, are also part of the mosaic of clubs in which he played. They were precisely the first and the last of his long career.

Spanish. 1st. 71 points. Majorca. 2nd. 68 points.

“I am convinced that both of them will be promoted directly. They are the most regular. The small crisis that Espanyol suffered was a little longer than the two mini-crises Mallorca had, in which they only made one point out of nine. But they weren't even linked. It is normal is this to happen throughout the season. His pursuers did not know how to take advantage of these small lapses. Espanyol asserts that it has the largest budget. It has first-rate players. If you can spend 20 million on a striker, 10 million on a central, 12 on one end … It is available to very few. They are First-class players who are performing well, because not all of them adapt to the change of division. They are very much left over. Vicente Moreno is a coach who organizes his teams very well.

Mallorca is not the second best budget, but it was also right with the signing of Luis García Plaza. He had a handicap that Espanyol did not have that retained Raúl de Tomás and, nevertheless, they lost Budimir, who was their top scorer in the First Division. It is more block, it is the team less thrashed, but there is not a bad relation between the goals against and the goals in favor. In Second receiving few goals and if you are scoring, you reach the regularity that allows you to be up and up. For me they are two clubs that have to always be in the First Division ”.

His debut in professional football was at Espanyol and his farewell at Mallorca, the two great candidates for promotion.

His Spanish past.

“It was my beginning. The difficult thing was not to arrive, but to stay. I owe him everything. I was there for five years. It was the impetus to continue playing in First 20 years. We live in fantastic moments. We played a UEFA final, when UEFA was played by the second, third and fourth of the major Championships. In a league we were third and we made life bitter for Madrid and Barça ”.

His past in Mallorca.

“From the age of 30 until I retired, I only signed from year to year. They didn't give me two. In Mallorca it was also like that. He had to prove every year that he served them. I never took it as a problem. I was very confident in myself. He was very professional. From Espanyol I always prepared on my own regardless of what I did with the team. That facilitated my soccer longevity. I had been doing the personal trainer thing since I was 20 years old. I didn't have many injuries either. Alemany signed me and the coach was Cúper. When I arrived in Palma, Mallorca had just finished fifth and played in the final of the Copa del Rey. That seemed hard to match, but we made it better. We were third and we reached the final of the Recopa. Then we won the Copa del Rey. Then Luis Aragonés arrived, for the third time in my career. We made a third place with the highest score in the history of the club”.