Gerard Moreno, Villarreal forward, reviewed in the Movistar program Valdano Universe his career and his way to reach what he is today: one of the leading forwards of the League and one of the regulars of the National Team.
He has grown a lot as a player year after year:
“I always try to grow and improve, I try to do it in everything, whether in football or personally. I believe that being a good person is vital to everything. And in football it is something that I think helps a lot in a dressing room. I like to help young people, as I have learned a lot from my veterans. They helped me a lot, and I think it's very important for a player to have that help ”.
He never stops running and fighting:
“I think you should never spare yourself an effort, that's what my family has taught me. The work is non-negotiable and it is always something that I carry with me ”.
Help from your parents:
“I value what my parents did. Soccer was the illusion that my brother and I had, the truth is that they have been key. They have always been there, and they continue to be. The truth is that I highly value their effort.”
Referents:
“I would go to the ball boy field and I would pay close attention to Tamudo, he was my reference. I also paid attention to Villa and Raúl, those are the three forwards who have marked me the most. I was lucky to be with Tamudo in the locker room. In them, I looked at how they did things and the way they played caught my attention. I was closer to Tamudo, since I saw him live, while I watched the others on TV “.
Departure from the Espanyol quarry:
“I had been at Espanyol for six years and I started not playing. It was difficult not to do it and I saw that I was not going to have the minutes I expected. I was very clear that I had to play and we decided to leave Espanyol to do so. He was a child, and it is true that it is difficult to leave a First team. But I was lucky that my parents made the path easier for me, since they prepared me to understand it. It cost me the first day, but I think I was right on that trip to Badalona. I needed to enjoy and play, the kids should have fun and not lose a year in a club where you are not going to play. In Badalona I felt very comfortable and very happy ”.
Leap to professional level:
“The year I came to Villarreal at the age of eighteen and separated from my family is when I began to think that this dream of being a professional could come. The first year I was at the residence hall, aspects of my life began to change, and I'm getting into in a more professional football. The first team is in the First Division and the subsidiary is in the Second, which brought me closer to the first division. “
Get to the first team and professional football:
“I started in the year that Villarreal fell, Marcelino arrived and I stayed with him permanently. There I really began to notice football, everything changes: the stadiums, training sessions, teammates and the pace of play, but little by little. I'm getting over it a little bit and I ended up enjoying it a lot in that half year. “
Majorca:
“Mallorca was another reality, they had descended and wanted to go up, so things were complicated that year. Although that year made me grow a lot, it was a complicated year, but with a great learning. I became very fond of how I was they tried. “
Growth as a forward:
“Marcelino's 4-4-2 was going very well for me, it was very vertical and with many occasions, with Quique I already went from the top to a second point heeled to the right, there I began to improve and change things. The last two years of Espanyol are the keys to my growth ”.
Anecdote of the entries:
“It was my first year at Villarreal in second grade, we were risking promotion and playing in Barcelona. The club wanted to displace a lot of people and suffered from not having tickets for my whole family, as there was a lot of demand. So I sent my girlfriend to stand in line to buy tickets for everyone. After a while I went with her to the queue to buy them and help her, and the people from the club saw me and told me to go home that they would give me the tickets ”.
Spanish:
“Going to Espanyol was incredible, I had family close and I returned to the team where I started. People welcomed me as the kid of the house and it was an incredible experience. It helped me a lot as a person and as a player, I think there I started to open up in every way. It was an incredible three years. It was just another parakeet and the people embraced that, they made it theirs too, so it was a very beautiful harmony. Now I'm in one of my best moments, those two from Espanyol were like that too ”.
Not performing in the first year is complicated:
“The first year you want to show and it doesn't work out, so you think about what you're failing and you eat your head. And all that makes things not go as you want and it is getting more and more complicated. You try to take off that pressure, but it is inevitable that this is there. It was not a good year, and in the end you realize that you must learn and not obsess “.
Return to Villarreal and transfer price:
“I have two houses, Villarreal was the team that made me debut in First Division and that helped me grow. I have always noticed the affection of this club and the option of returning to a place that is my home and where I knew what awaited me opens up. The club makes a great effort and it happens to me like in the first stage of Espanyol. We suffer for not coming down, they pay 20 million for my signing and things don't work out; it was all complicated. You see that things do not come out and you see that you are down, so you no longer play with that freedom and that security. You make yourself a heavy backpack and everything costs much more. It was a hard year but we solved it and it helped me to learn and recover ”.
Selection:
“You get to First and the other dream is the National Team, playing with La Roja is incredible and the first call was a pride and very exciting. I think that is an award for everyone, for the whole family, and it was a dream to achieve it with them. I think we are a pack and we achieve everything together, from the first moment they have always been there. It is not easy to be in the calls, every time they call you is an achievement, and for that reason I celebrate and value it “.
Versatile forward:
“In the end it seems that the striker should only score goals, but you must understand the game and look for more things. You must read the game, give options and exits to your teammates. Being a forward of the National Team asks you that. You try to give the solutions that you asks the technician, you must help in all facets. In the National Team there is a lot of competition, in the end it is normal that this is the case. The level is very high and we know that we must be at our highest level in each year to be able to be. selection is very complicated ”.
Villarreal is in a good moment:
“Villarreal is a team that is very excited, that's the word. In the dressing room you can breathe that illusion to do something great. We know it is very difficult, but we are very excited and want to do something great. We have a very balanced team, we have a good mix, players who have won things and been in great teams, in addition to young hungry people. The word is illusion, and we work to go one step further, that is the goal ”.
Happy for the current moment:
“I am happy and comfortable, I am very confident and I hope to continue improving and growing as a player. I'm in a place where I feel happy, I feel good and I hope I can grow even more ”.