Santander League: Javier Aguirre: “The red cards and my wife changed my character” | LaLiga Santander 2019

It is difficult for a Mexican of Basque parents to choose: A bottle of chacol or a tequila? Well, according to the time. I take both, but I don't know first, Javier Aguirre responds with laughter (Mexico City, 1958). The Basque visit today for the first time the Metropolitan Wanda that began to be devised when he wore the Attic's timn (2006-09). His almost three years on the red and white bench were something extraordinary until Simeone arrived. Today he tries to save the Legans in the most complex moment of his former team.

He has been on the benches since 1996. What have gray hair and wrinkles brought to you?

Above all, patience. Suddenly you are less visceral, less impetuous. Now I am calmer and less impetuous than when I started. You think twice what you are going to say and keep that shout out to a referee or a player. My character also changed my red cards and my wife. It is the best coach I have. We have been married for 37 years.

Do you regret anything?

Of course, I've done things I shouldn't. Suddenly, matches that I lost due to disability, for not being as detailed as it should have been. Maybe I was unfair to some player, maybe I exceeded the referees. Some journalist also answered in a bad way because he criticized you. Of those things I know I regret. I have improved this over time and, as I said, I am now a more leisurely guy.

What has hurt you most in all these years?

Soccer takes away many things. I was not in the death of my father or my mother. The body asks you to be next to your old man, giving him the last goodbye and I couldn't. Nor did I go to my brothers' wedding. I was in Abu Dhabi, Madrid or not where.

Are they to start shaking their fights in the locker room?

Answer with an anecdote. In 2014, after leaving Espanyol, I went to Japan to look for new horizons and be their coach. I arrive and sign the contract. And the guy who broke in came for me to go there (a Brazilian who played in Mexico and Japan and spoke Japanese) and says: 'Hey, the men are telling me that, please, don't yell at the players a lot' . And I answer: 'Tell the men that they were wrong as a coach'. That to start. We played a friendly match with Venezuela and they were running over us. In the first time 0-1, but kicking and moving. And we as 'kittens'. Then I arrive at the locker room and say to the translator: 'Don't talk, don't talk, keep quiet.' And I let the players loose of what they were going to die in Japanese, in French, in English, in Spanish, in Mexican, … In everything I screwed up in their fucking mother. The game is over, the team reacts (2-2), and a player comes to me, he gives me a card and tells me: 'Mster, go to this spa to relax and give you a massage'.

How is a team like Legans brought back to life?

At the outset, you cannot want to change everything: schedules, clothes, training, this is superstition, … No, no, no. You have to take the change as naturally as possible, trying not to make mistakes in the game, not to make mistakes in the objective. Even if it is slow, you have to ascend. You can't go back.

What is more complicated: try to save a team from relegation or have the obligation to be up?

Well, both are strong. In Mexico, with the Mexican national team and Pachuca, it was a must to be the best in the area. And it's fucked, huh. Because as soon as you tie with a weak opponent at home, they are already loading your inks. Or in the Atlantic of Madrid. My departure from the Atlantic (2009) came after losing at home with Valladolid (1-2). Large teams always have to maintain the level. To save a team you may not give yourself luxuries because you have nothing left over, but the focus may not be so much on you. So everything you do is good, it is for good.

Until you arrived at the Atlantic, no coach had lasted so long in almost a decade. So complex is the club rojiblanco?

It's true, it lasted almost three years. And we went back to UEFA and the Champions League. It is a team that today is another. At that time there were economic problems, come from a period in Second. There were many projects: that of La Peineta to make a stadium, that of the Sports City or strengthen the quarry. Then they were starting to grow and ah we arrived. We continue with that sustained, slow but sustained growth. We returned to Europe and today is another Atlantic. They were almost three years very good for me. A constant learning of good people and I take that club within me. We must give Miguel Ngel Gil, Enrique and Cholo a huge responsibility for success. Without these three pillars, the Atlantic will not be what it is today.

I directed the first steps of Kun Agero in Spain and now it is up to Simeone to do the same with Joao Flix.

It is true that there are similarities. At that time, Kun was the most expensive player in club history. Young man, 18 years old, of a different football as was the Argentine. The adaptation period for anyone is complicated, so for a boy of that age imagine. They remove him from his family environment, from his cultural environment, from his natural habitat and take him to another place, with another climate, with other living conditions. Even football was different. Independiente is a great team in Argentina, but the Atletico, although at that time it was not top 5 in the world, had a story that was 'top 10'. Diego Costa also arrived at that preseason, we both young. We had to show people, the press, the fans, the directive that Kun was going to take to emerge. And there was a hurry, there was no patience because they wanted immediate results. They invested more than 20 million. I know it was a bit complicated at the beginning.

What will you recommend to Simeone?

I have nothing to recommend. He has much more capacity than me for this kind of thing. Joao Flix has a brutal talent, of course. It's undeniable. It is seen in the form of running, of controlling a ball, of putting a pass. Surely he will do very well.

Is the Atlantic this season more vulnerable?

I do not think so. The team lost very important costumes in these last years. Fernando, Gabi, Godn, Filipe, Juanfran, … People with a lot of weight, with a lot of experience. Tiago left before, in his day Antonio Lpez … And important players leave but there are youth players like Koke, Sal and Thomas. And very important signings like my compatriot Herrera, Gimnez has already taken the step. It is still a very strong team.

Why didn't Riquelme sign for the Atlantic?

I got to interview Riquelme. I welcomed him and we talked about what was coming. It was all closed. I went to a UEFA match in Serbia and my surprise was mayscula when they call me and tell me that it will not be done. Well, Holy Easter. I talked with the player. We were Riquelme, Garca Pitarch and I and I remember the three leaving the meeting with the certainty that it was done. But football has those things.

Did you expect Kun to achieve everything it has achieved in the Premier?

It is incredible. The truth is that when I left for England I was a little shocked because it was not the profile of the center forward for England. Those tanks of 1.90, that play with their backs to the bow, that lower you 20 balls, that you win the game areo … Kun was the opposite, but I fell with the perfect coach (Mancini) in the perfect team ( Man. City). In addition, English football has changed a lot. Today Liverpool has Sadio Man and Salah, who are Kun style. Twenty years ago you see a Crystal Palace-West Ham and it hurts your head. The English football has changed a lot and Agero has done very well. Then I learned a lot with Guardiola and still continues to learn today.

How many times have you remembered that clash with Ablanedo being a Osasuna player (1986)?

Phew! Many. It was a long wall, I shouldn't have gone, I knew it wasn't coming, but I felt such pressure from the fans because they whistled at me. They expected another Hugo Snchez. And I was a 'matao', a containment flyer, a round trip. So I said: 'I'm going to show you that I'm bad, but that I have a lot of eggs … a lot of courage (laughs).' And, pumba !, I arrived late, I felt sorry for Ablanedo because I put a good slap. I hit with my tibia on his knee. They insulted me, they told me everything. The referee: 'Get up, Mexican!' 'Get up, you have nothing!' And had the fractured tibia. I needed 11 months to play again.

It was the end of his career in Europe.

S. I played six more years in Mexico, but in Spain it's over. I had three more years of contract with Osasuna, but Michael Robinson came to me. It was the best contribution I made to Spanish football. Michael came and I stayed on the squad without a back, I recovered and when I was ready I realized that Robinson had brought a friend, Sammy Lee, and they erased me. And that's it. Ah finished my story.

How have you lived with that shadow of amao del Levante-Zaragoza?

As naturally as possible. I fully understand that it affects my profession. Somehow there were people who waited until the end. It is not that it has prevented me from signing for some club but I did ask. The worst is the family, which is the one that can take it worse. Much more with social networks. But well, I was always calm. I trusted justice and, look, that's it.

His parents were Basque, how do you see the political situation in Spain?

The truth is that history is a bit of a mess. I would not like to get into things that do not compete with me because, first, Spain is a country that has given me work, it is the country of my parents and I love it very much. And, second, because I'm Mexican and I don't want to get into things that don't bind me.