The smile of Ivan Balliu (Caldas de Malavella, Girona, 1992) is the best thermometer of how things are in Vallecas. The winger arrived in the summer and has shown the same self-confidence with which he handles words on the right wing. His life is peppered with curiosities and anecdotes. His father is the mayor of his town and his last name was the clue that led him to the Albanian team. Over there there are more than 4,000 ‘Ballius’, but in the Ray there is only one. He has soaked up what the Strip is and stands for and listens carefully to Fly’s stories about it. He grew up in La Masia, matured in his adventures in Portugal and France and returned to LaLiga as the first signing of the Almería sheikh. Now he has made the leap to First, with the same naturalness with which he praises his teammates and his coach, the fans … The gear of this Rayo works with new parts like him. And his smile confirms it.
“What does the phrase ‘If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up’ tell you?”
“I put it on Instagram. Oysters, you see that we get results, there is a good atmosphere, the fans are a show… I didn’t even dream of it when I signed for Rayo. I knew that he came to suffer and fight for permanence and everything is coming out for us. The goal is salvation, but we have come much of the way.
– And what do you think when you hear on the field: ‘Next year Rayo-Liverpool’?
“At first I was laughing, but it wouldn’t be bad.” It would be fun to see Liverpool in the changing rooms we have (laughs).
– What has attracted your attention the most from Rayo and Vallecas in these months?
“The locker room atmosphere.” We make meals, we bring each other gifts … Fran García gave us cheese, Isi comes with fruit when he goes to Murcia, I got wine from Catalonia … And from Vallecas, I stay with the fans. It is the greatest asset of this club, the strength we have. They cheer you on from minute 1 to 90, good or bad.
-That is the key to success?
“It’s the sum of everything.” You also have to give value to the coach. Prepare and read the games very well. Two or three days before he gives you the ideas and when you arrive … It is as is! It has merit. Iraola is a coach with a great future.
—The eleven is the same as the promotion with his incorporation and that of the forward (Guardiola, Falcao, Nteka …).
—There are two readings of that, it shows that in Second there is a level and players capable of competing perfectly in First and it gives value to maintaining a group and the ideas of a coach.
“Tell me about those ideas of Iraola and how he fits into them.”
—He likes to press high, fast players on the wing… we are a team that does not stop running and fighting. That’s clear.
—And what role did you play in your signing for Rayo?
—I finished my contract at Almería and there were a couple more options. He called me, insisted, fought for me … He explained the idea of the club and convinced me.
—But the first contacts were before, in fact, he celebrated the rise of Montilivi …
-Correct. A day before, Cobeño sent me a message: ‘When we are in First Division next year, we want you to play with us.’ He believed in the comeback. I answered him: ‘Take me off a shirt that I’m going to help out tomorrow.’ I’m from Girona and I saw it there. The neighbors would say: ‘Oh my God, what’s wrong with this one?’ (laughs). We encourage the Ray and celebrate it.
– How is that to play and to assist Falcao?
-Other level. You put a bad middle center on him, that 80% of the players neither reach it or fail it, and the guy ¡Pum! puts it. It seems that you have made a crazy center … You have to take advantage of these footballers because they are touched and all that comes to them is a goal.
—On the left wing are the Garcia and on the right it forms a double with Isi …
—Isi is a spectacular footballer: strong, with quality, good shot… He likes to go inside and leaves me a lot of lane to climb. Playing with people like him is very easy.
“Iraola is a coach with a great future, he reads games very well”
—Well, you acted as an extreme at Villamarín …
—It was 45 minutes… And I don’t know if the coach is going to give me more. I do not think so (laughs) The idea against Betis was to have two quick players to run, the problem is that we hardly touched the ball and we couldn’t do it.
“How was your jump to First?”
-Very well. You go to beautiful stadiums, you face good players, you even meet with colleagues from the past … I have already changed the shirt with Bartra (Betis), Sergi Gómez (Espanyol), Sergi Roberto (Barça) … I was with everyone at La Masia . Each one has made their way, but we get together every summer to go on vacation to Ibiza for a week.
—With Rayo, he went back to the national team two years later.
—Almeria spoke with the national team and they reached an agreement. The club told him that he was playing a lot and, as he was a starter, he asked him to call another. Those two seasons did not summon me there.
—And how does a Catalan end up playing with Albania?
“I was in France and the Federation contacted me.” Looking for my last name, we discover that its origin is from there. Many people wrote to me in Albanian for Twitter and I thought they were getting confused. When that opportunity arose, I gathered papers with my father and made my passport.
“Have you ever set foot in Albania before?”
-Never. In Spain there are 60 people with their last name Balliu, who are almost my family, but it is common there. There are more than 4,000. The first time I went, they came to look for me at the airport with the taxi and on the way to the sports city I saw a ‘Balliu Restaurant’ … I thought, oysters, in the end it will be true (laughs).
“Cobeño contacted me the day before the promotion and I celebrated it, my neighbors in Girona would hallucinate”
“How do you remember your debut?”
—It was against Spain and I don’t know if I was half prepared because when I was gathering papers there was a moment when we couldn’t advance. And they were in a hurry. It was like a victory to say that that player had been taken by them. The debut was fun because I had more friends in the rival team than in mine, Jordi Alba, Piqué, Bartra, Busquets …
—This course your worst enemy is being penalties.
– I had only done one in my entire career and this year, three in nine games. Now I try to watch him more and even Dimitrievski laughs because every time he goes to shoot I put my hands back …
—You grew up in La Masia, entered at the age of 12 and packed your bags at 21.
—At Barça you have everything, you live like in a bubble. There are perfect facilities, they take great care of you, the style of play is different from the rest … You realize that later you have to suffer, fight …
—He was captain of the youth triplet and went up with the first team, under Guardiola and Tito.
—I went from seeing them on TV and having them as references to sharing a wardrobe or traveling. Since then I have a relationship with Xavi, Pinto… Many of them had also come up from the quarry and had a touch with the young people. He was finishing a training session and Xavi would ask us where we were going to eat and he would invite us.
—And now he’s on the bench …
—He lived football in a different way. He was a bit like Guardiola, sick with this, capable of watching China matches, Second B … You could tell he would end up being a coach.
—How do you see this Barça?
“Direct rival, right?” (laughs). Imagine how football has changed… He’s having a tough time. They have problems and it is good for us that they do not do so well. Although I look at the table and I notice how much we get those below.
“What is ‘Gorgeous Style’?”
—A clothing line that I have with Sergi Gómez, from Espanyol. We did it when we were at Barça B. We said why don’t we create some jerseys, we give them to the first team, we take some photos and I’m sure they’ll be sold (laughs).
—What did you bring in your suitcase from your experiences in Portugal (Arouca) and in France (Metz)?
—I came out of the Barça bubble and what I wanted was to play. In Portugal football was similar to Spanish and I had quite a few minutes. Then I went to France, which was more physical, shock, back and forth … I was very good at both clubs.
“Is it true that your father, Salvador, is mayor?”
-Correct. He is the mayor of my town, which has about 7,000 inhabitants. He started because there was no daycare and promoted those issues. He ended up in there.
“How is your life in Madrid?”
—I am delighted with the closeness of the fans. I deal with Fly, one of the physios, and he tells stories of the neighborhood to Comesaña and me. I like Vallecas and his philosophy. We must be aware that for many their escape route is to come to see the Ray. What less than to leave us the skin and sweat the shirt! Many people do not have large salaries and have to make an effort to pay a ticket or get a season ticket. The match against Mallorca was on a Monday, it was cold and even snowy. I told Fly in the previous one: ‘I think the stadium is not going to fill up’. And he replied that Vallecas never fails. Oysters, in the warm-up I was already at the top.