Lato, a crib footballer hardened with tears

Toni Lato is two games away from reaching the fifty official duels with Valencia, with 'his' Valencia. The discharge of José Luis Gayà reopens the doors of eleven to the boy from Pobla de Vallbona. The captain will leave his position to another Valencian born. Because Lato, before he was born, they already played the hymn. In his house, soccer was breathed in every corner. Your family tree must be in the shape of a ball because all the branches that come from it bloomed balls and T-shirts.

Even Maite, her mother, also took her first steps. Even, She played for the Valencian National Team at a time when women's football was not going through a good time. Maite, who coincided in the Selection with her sister (she was a goalkeeper), she got pregnant with Lato and there she had to hang up her boots a classy midfielder who had previously played handball. The mother of the Valencia side left him, but Lato, almost newborn, walked the fields of the Region to see a relative. When he wasn't his father, his uncle played. His grandparents were also modest footballers, but they injected passion and genes into Toni. Lato's father got to play Second B, but the one who made his career was his uncle, Vicente Latorre, a legendary Levante player. Lato's brother, how could it be otherwise, also plays soccer. Raúl, 21, is the Vallbona goalkeeper. The game flows through the Latorre-Grueso saga.

Lato was taking important steps in his career, but the first challenge he had to overcome was to get rid of stage fright. “Lato was so shy that he cried every goal he scored”, reminds AS of Toni Lato, the father. The little blond with long hair amazed everyone, but for him it was an ordeal every time he played. When his coach gave him the order to jump onto the field, the problems began. “He managed to score 180 forward goals in one season in pre-benjamines, but it was difficult for him to get rid of that shame”says his father. In a friendly tournament, Valencia came to Vallbona. The local team, in which Lato played, won 4-2 against the giant ché. A hat trick by the 'blond' put Valencia on alert, which was not long in signing him. In Paterna, he also had problems because Lato could not go to play a tournament in Andorra. “It made her blush, it was incredible,” says Toni Lato Sr. Emilio Ibáñez, a family friend and companion of the father, was key for Toni to remove those fears. Ibáñez started working with Toni from a young age and is currently the psychologist for Valencia.

After overcoming his problems, Toni exploded, consolidating himself in Valencia and in its lower categories as one of the full-backs of the future. Last year he had to go to PSV, where he experienced another ordeal. Van Bommel, just landed Lato in Holland, made him the cross. He even sent the subsidiary. “The first day of being in the PSV already wanted to return”, affirms his father. Lato had to overcome another blow. He was not happy in Holland and headed for Osasuna. In El Sadar he felt like a footballer again and the confirmation that Valencia had him this year rewarded all the bad moments. “Now he is very happy, in the club of his life,” says his father. Lato has three weeks ahead to vindicate himself and try not to show Gayà's absence. The umpteenth challenge for a 23-year-old boy just turned 23 begins this Saturday against Atlético.