Vicente Iborra is rushing his recovery to return to the team as best as possible this preseason after seven months out for his knee injury. He returns wanting to contribute, excited about the challenge ahead and convinced that they can do great things. Wait a Super Cup “tough and demanding”, although it is clear that they will have their options to win. And although he thinks they have a “very good team”, he considers that what makes them “different” is the union, ensuring that they are “a real family”.
He must be crazy to play again and to feel like a footballer again, right?
The truth is that I already want to go back, to train, to play, and to feel like a footballer. I am very excited, I have more desire than ever.
What a season awaits you with four competitions …
A season is coming with many challenges, a very beautiful season for the team and individually it is also for me. In addition to the desire to return to the team after so long, the option of being able to live an incredible year is added.
How is the injury?
I had never suffered a long injury, the truth is that I have not been sunk at any time, and I decided to take advantage of this injury to improve and to learn. I think this injury will help me to be a better player, I'm sure. On the physical issue I am well, very recovered.
In the final he made the final harangue. How do you rate it?
Being able to harangue the team before the final was very special, the fact of not being able to be on the field but being able to be there and being made to feel important is very special. It's something I really appreciate.
He earned those stripes last year and the team was close to relegation, don't you think?
That season was complicated, I arrived at a hard time and everything happened to the team. It was that feeling that you had everything against you. But that made us harder and stronger, it has been an important part of who we are now to suffer and get that out together.
Before the injury you were the most positional pivot. How do you see yourself playing this season?
My entry there in the middle gave balance to the team at a time when it needed it. We did not have a player as positional as Capoue is now, so it was my turn. Now with Capoue I can have more options to get to the area and have other possibilities. What I want now is to help the team, to be able to play and give everything I can.
What about Chelsea?
I think they are a very complete team, a team that is very difficult to surprise you, since they are very strong at the back, with high quality people and very vertical at the top. They are a very good team, it will be a great challenge for us, but I see the team prepared.
Do you see yourself winning another title?
We are going to fight it like the good team that we are, I think we have many options and we can take that title. We are going to work well this preseason to be as well prepared as possible for this challenge. They are a tough team, they are Champions of the Champions League, with that all said. They are mentally and physically strong teams, so they are teams that wear you down a lot. You have to have a great mental level to be able to win those games, something that I think we also have.
What is the best thing about this team?
What is a family. Sometimes I think how important it is to have a good group, how it can be achieved in order to have it and it is not easy. This is a group that has strengthened ties, that is very united and that makes it strong. We have a very solid base, we are a good group that believes in what it does, and that is vital to face great challenges.
And how do you do that?
It is not easy to put together a team, but it is more difficult to put together a good dressing room. It is not easy at all to put together a team that is almost a family. I always say that this cannot be bought, it is something that money does not give, it is something that is worked from within. That is everyone's credit, it is a day-to-day job and of the people who are part of the club.
And what about the Champions League?
The Champions League absorbs you a lot, it is a competition that forces you to be very prepared and at the highest level to respond in it and in the other competitions. But we must face it with enthusiasm, without pressure and preparing each game in the best possible way. We are going to have weeks of all kinds, Champions League or Cup League, and there we must see the importance of a squad. This season it will be necessary to have everyone, since it will be