The young madridista Aleix Vidal

It is debated between the end –Where he scored his goal against Betis, two weeks ago, minutes before they had to sew his right leg with 15 stitches- and the side, in which he stood out against Sevilla, an Aleix Vidal who began his sporting life as a center forward and whose change, now forever, he owes to the band to Real Madrid. In his rival this Sunday he not only played in his adolescence but also as a child I was a madridista confessed.

22

And that it was not easy for Puigpelat (08-21-1989) to persist in his white faith. First because At age youngster he went through the Infantil B of Barcelona -next to Jordi Alba, among others-. And later, because his passage through Factory It was not as satisfying as I could hope for. They recruited him at age 15, after following him in Cambrils, for a Cadet A in which a certain Dani Parejo. “I lived a year alone there, in a residence that the club had. From the first moment I knew that it was almost impossible to succeed at Real Madrid”, He explained himself in August 2015 in the Barça Magazine.

Not surprisingly, sports performance was not consistent with academic performance. And the matter of the residence, which he himself mentions, was not minor. While the technicians firmly bet on its continuity throughout the youth stage, the doors were closed to him as an inhabitant of the Vilafranca del Castillo student center with which Real Madrid continues to have an agreement for its football and basketball youth players. Somehow, He was denied a scholarship to continue in the white club. And he had to return to Tarragona.

Real Madrid Shield / Flag

Espanyol Shield / Flag

Military a couple of years later Aleix Vidal at Espanyol, where it did not curdle either. “They didn't even let him put the cones in training “, declared a time ago in AS the then head of the residence attached to the parakeet club in which he did fit, Javi peña, who signed him up for a higher degree course so that he could free his mind.

Fate wanted that finally the player will return to Barcelona, and even write down a goal against Real Madrid In a 0-3 for the Catalans at the Bernabéu, four seasons ago, although their biggest controversy against the whites took place in Mendizorroza, Aleix defending the Alavés shirt, on November 30, 2019. A penalty goal scored by Lucas Pérez reacted with a sleeves cut in front of Sergio Ramos, who earned him the LaLiga complaint before the Competition Committee. “I have done it unconsciously for the thrill of scoring, without any intention. Ramos? Let him complain, “expressed the car night.

Aleix Vidal's sleeve cut in an Alavés-Espanyol.

Aleix Vidal's sleeve cut in an Alavés-Espanyol.

And, in the same way that one day he returned to Barça to retaliate for his discreet time at the quarry, this summer he has returned to Espanyol. But not to put the cones, but to leave –literally– the skin. It will be more difficult that one day he returns to Madrid, to his team as a child, the same one that one day led and later trained his “idol of always“, as he described it already in 2018 in a test for LaLiga: Zinedine Zidane. But today, at least, he will face them. The student has become a teacher.