Javi García, to AS: “I don’t see anyone who imposes on City”

Javi García (1987, Mula) experienced the Real Madrid of the Galactics and the takeoff of Manchester City. Two clubs that meet this Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals and that the Spanish footballer knows very well. “Of course I’m going to see it,” acknowledges the midfielder with a smile, who attends Diario AS from Porto to talk about the Champions League tie and his time with both teams.

-You arrived at Real Madrid at the age of 13, how do you remember it?

I went alone to Madrid and lived at the SEK school in Villafranca del Castillo with 20 kids until I joined Real Madrid Castilla. Since I arrived until I left with 17 it was complicated. Now I see 13-year-olds and I say… they are children! That’s how I went to Madrid. There were days when you felt homesick and you didn’t want to get out of bed, but I held on -there were colleagues who couldn’t hold out-. There were also nice moments… .

-You made your debut in 2004 with all the galácticos, what was it like to share a dressing room with them?

It was too much for the people who went up to the first team. We had five or six of the best in the world, although Ronaldo Nazario was my favourite. When he was little he was not able to sit down to watch a football match and instead when he arrived at Barcelona I was always in front of the television to watch him. He had the room full of his things. The goal that I have shouted the most at the Bernabéu was his debut against Alavés. Ronaldo was the one who impressed me the most because he idolized him. Also Zidane, who was amazing.

At that time there were many Brazilians and the games were quite funny. On one side was Raúl, who took training very seriously, and on the other Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Cicinho… who played to see who could make the most pipes. I remember that Raúl took off his bib more than once and left there, I think because he didn’t get mad. Raúl was super professional and the Brazilians were from another world.

-After a good course at Osasuna, Madrid executed the repurchase option and established himself in the first team in the 2008-09 season, with Guardiola’s Barcelona in full swing, what do you remember of that campaign?

It was the illusion I had as a child, but to make a place for yourself in Madrid you have to believe it, you have to have a bit of arrogance, as I see it now, and honestly, I didn’t have that mentality. I played quite a few games, I had good memories but sometimes you also have to have a bit of luck, you also depend on other teams, and Madrid had a difficult time in those years.

-The following summer Florentino returns, was it the turning point?

He made the signings to which we are accustomed. It was the only way to compete with Barcelona. I went to Benfica that same summer but I got to train with Cristiano, and it may sound strange, but I was stunned. It was inevitable. I think it happened to all of us. It was a bug and we thought: where did this man come from? He had an ease with the dribble, the movement of his legs in short spaces… it was beautiful.

-You spent three years at Benfica, where David Luiz, Matic or Di María played and ended up signing for Manchester City in 2012, how was the club?

I played my best years at Benfica. Later several teams called me and I chose City because it is the one that made me most excited. The Premier has always enchanted me. Of course, life there was complicated because it was very different from that of Spain or Portugal. It was soccer, soccer and soccer. There was very little to do, few restaurants, and I remember a phrase from my wife, then my girlfriend, who two or three months after being there told me: where are we going? Where did we go yesterday or the day before yesterday?

At that time the club was growing and did not have anyone who spoke Spanish to help the integration of the player. He thought he could do everything and that surpassed me for a few months. In the second season I was calmer and we won the Premier with Pellegrini. The change from Mancini to Pellegrini was a way of channeling City’s game, of taking more care of the ball, until Guardiola arrived. There they already made it quite clear what they wanted to do. Guardiola is taking that style of play to the extreme. As long as he gives titles, he will be fine.

-With City you suffer a 3-2 comeback from Madrid with a late goal from Cristiano, how do you experience those nights at the Bernabéu as a rival?

We played very comfortably, we made it 1-2… but I don’t know, there was a moment when Madrid clicked. Although you feel that you are winning, you know that it will not be easy when you have eleven white shirts in front of you on that field. Although one fights for it not to happen, unconsciously, in the end you know that they are going to come back. They are capable of turning the game around at any time, and this year they are proving it again!

-Now they face each other again, you will be attentive to what happens…

Of course I’m going to see it. I think it will be easier for Madrid than the tie against Chelsea. I hope I’m not wrong, but I’ve said it before, City doesn’t transmit anything to me to reach a Champions League final. It has players with a lot of quality, but I don’t see anyone who imposes. I put myself in the situation of being at the Etihad playing against them and there is no one who gives me the fear that a City player can have when they see one from Madrid.

-What is the most dangerous thing about this City?

I have seen many of their games, but not all of them because sometimes they are so superior to other teams that I prefer to watch others. If they get up on the right foot that day, they are decisive players, one of the best in their positions. But I don’t know how he’s going to get up on Tuesday. Madrid will surely compete until the end. The Champions League is their competition, City is about to carve out a niche there. It is true that the Champions League nights at the Etihad impacted me because the atmosphere was much colder than the one I had felt at the Bernabéu.

-He attends us from Porto, how is life as a Boavista player?

It is a beautiful city, my family and I are very happy. It is less chaotic than Lisbon, which has so many people and so many cars. Porto is more familiar, and now, after COVID, we are starting to enjoy it. On Monday we face Sporting de Portugal…