José Calvarro, the Spanish physio who takes care of the best team in the world

He has worked at Chelsea since 2014 and has a Premier League, an FA Cup, a UEFA Europa League, a Champions League, a European Super Cup and a Club World Cup to his credit. “And I haven’t played a minute,” comments with a smile from ear to ear Jose Calvarro (León, 1979), the Spanish physiotherapist who takes care of the best football team on the planet. He was born in León, studied in Madrid and worked for 11 years with the boxing and wrestling teams at the Higher Sports Council. “I came to Chelsea through Raúl Martínez, who is now the physio for the Spanish soccer team. Paco Biosca, head of the club’s medical services, asked him for someone to check on a specific therapy that Cesc (Fàbregas) liked. ) and ‘Azpi’ (César Azpilicueta). Raúl gave my name and that’s how I got here. As a boxing trainer I worked with, Manel Berdonce, used to say: ‘May luck catch you prepared’. I was in the right place in the right time”, adds Calvarro, who will visit Wembley this Sunday with the hope of defeating Liverpool in the League Cup final and adding a new title to his record: “Let’s see if we have a little luck and we can get it “.

José Calvarro arrived at Chelsea thanks to manual therapy, but, he clarifies, “here I do a little of everything”: “We do puncture, EPI (percutaneous intratissue electrolysis)…”. Some of his techniques are painful, but he trusts “in explaining very well to the player what the objective of each treatment is. I tell him what I am doing and why I am doing it. That is how he understands it and ‘buys’ it.” For Calvarro, the figure of the physiotherapist in a soccer team is “basic” because “we are increasingly trained and we can contribute more”: “At Chelsea we have players who cost a lot of money. It is wonderful when, together with the entire medical service, we reduce recovery time and help them give their best version. The footballers they are intelligent. They know their bodies and they know that having trained people around them has a positive impact on their careers: better performance, more wins, more titles, better salary…”.

In England, José Calvarro has discovered new ways of working. “Here, the physiotherapists use gym exercises, while in Spain we have a more manual culture. We also have a French physio and they work in a more functional way. It’s curious and, at the same time, very interesting: each one does one thing and the players choose”, discovers Calvarro, whose working day begins “an hour and a half before training”: “We arrive a little before the players to have everything ready. We have a meeting with the entire medical team to see what the status is of each footballer and we carry out a specific ‘planning’ for the injured. Then we go to our work area and the players appear. We are at their disposal for whatever they need. Also after training in case anyone needs more treatment, stretching or anything else. We have to keep an eye on them. Go into the locker room and ask them, because if there isn’t one that gets away. Then we update the computer system that we use to follow up and we can go home”.

Much more than a physio

José Calvarro is much more than a physiotherapist. “We spend many hours with the players. For them I am a very close person whom they trust”, discovers the Spaniard, who has become a support for the squad: “The nice thing about being part of a group is that we talk every day good, but also bad. And it is in the worst moments when you have to be with the players the most. Many get close to them when they score or when they are doing well, but when they fail is when they need us the most. They need a conversation or someone to come over, ask how they are and talk to them about something else. And it’s not playing a psychologist, it’s playing a friend. More so in a locker room like this where there are so many foreigners who are away from the family.” And yes, in the physio they also talk about football: “We talk about anything that comes to mind, but above all football . From other teams, from the transfer market… They love it. They live for and for this”. José Calvarro knows that some of the best soccer players on the planet pass through him, but “When Lukaku comes I don’t think that I have 115 million euros in my hands”. “These kids are my friends, my family. My little children that I have to take care of. If they get injured I want them to heal as soon as possible and when they play they get out. I think more about that than about their value as footballers,” he explains.

José Calvarro has already worked with Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri, Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel, whom he defines as a “wonderful” person. “He is a super close guy. Both he and his team. They are very affectionate and very caring. They are aware that we are all well and have respected our work from the first moment. They have not gotten into anything. They have trusted us and, So far, everything is going very well”, adds the Leonese, who is full of praise for the dressing room: “There is no one who believes himself more than anyone else. Havertz is a crack and he is the humblest guy you can throw at face. And that gives you that you have a captain as spectacular as Azpilicueta, who is always smiling and on good terms with everyone. Or Kovacic, the guy speaks six languages ​​and laughs with each other. There have been times with heavyweights like Terry, who had a lot of character, or David Luiz, who was another heavyweight. Some friction was created, but now the locker room is a pool of oil. You walk in and it doesn’t feel like it’s full of stars. There is Kanté, who wins the Champions League and the Club World Cup and comes to train in a Mini. He is the coolest guy in the world. Hazard, for example, technically gave everyone a thousand laps and never wanted to be more than anyone. If the best don’t come up, no one can.”