MADRID, 14 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
‘DAZN’ premieres this Wednesday the second episode of ‘OR7GEN’, its documentary series in which former striker David Villa takes a trip through some of the youth academies of the teams that have marked his career in Spain, and which on this occasion will stop at Barcelona.
After focusing on the first chapter of Atlético de Madrid, the ‘Guaje’ will now expose the keys to ‘Gen La Masía’, which explores the ins and outs of the Blaugrana school at the hands of legends such as Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Claudia Pina, Rafa Márquez or Bojan Krkic.
Thus, the current coach of FC Barcelona gives value to what the quarry must teach. “It’s not just football, it’s not just winning, leaving a legacy is important,” warns the ex-midfielder who believes that “the ‘Barça school’ is empathy, the game and the ‘DNA’ of Barça is empathy, it is knowing where the third man, the free man”. “All of this makes the values you learn, the ‘Barça DNA’, be both a model of life, thinking of the other. It is one of the keys to training at La Masía”, he points out.
“We are examined daily. The player, the coach, the kit man, the doctor, and the pressure is enormous. That’s why I always insist, Barça is something more, because you have to win and convince; convince in this club where the bar is it is very high”, adds the one from Terrassa.
Inside the Blaugrana facilities, Xavi observes a photograph in which he shares the spotlight with Andrés Iniesta and Leo Messi. “Andrés and I represent an idea of the game, a philosophy of the game and of life. I’m not there because of my qualities, neither innate nor individual, I’m there because of the idea of the game, because of the philosophy, and that’s how I feel. At an individual level, there was very little playing football, it was something because of the idea itself. If Johan Cruyff didn’t come here to implement an idea, I still wouldn’t have played”, he stresses.
In this episode the figure of Fuentealbilla also appears, who left his home to end up in La Masía when he was very young. “Being there and living with so many colleagues and professionals made me a better person and, looking back, it has been a wonderful journey that I lived in Barcelona”, he admits.
For her part, the young Claudia Pina, one of the outstanding figures of FC Barcelona Femenino, does not hide the fact that “women’s football has no ceiling”. “And I think we are showing it here at Barça,” she warns, stressing that Alexia Putellas and other older teammates had “boys as references”, while she and other young women are “lucky to be able to have female references”.
Rafa Márquez, the Barça Atlétic coach and former first-team player, also opened up to David Villa about his work at the Blaugrana subsidiary, where “today I’m more of a psychologist than a coach.” “They are at an age where it is difficult, just one step away, but sometimes they think they are already there. And I think this step is the most difficult,” he confesses.
Finally, Bojan Krkic, Barça’s all-time top scorer in the lower categories, does not forget that his “obsession was to get to play with the first team”. “I consider that the path is very important, it is a great learning that you do not know how far it will take you. What young people need is to live day by day, which is what will take them tomorrow, there is to convey to them the importance of the processes”, he highlights.
‘OR7GEN’ will continue to offer fans unparalleled photography of the work carried out in the Spanish quarries. The next stops on David Villa’s trip will be Valencia (premiere on June 21) and Asturias (on June 28).