Trejo returns and Rayo recovers, thus, one of his pillars in La Rosaleda. That player who rocks the ball or shocks the game when necessary. A fixed for Iraola and an SUV. The Argentine proudly wears the bracelet and tries to follow in the wake of other great captains. He has had to put out fires and he hopes that the Strip can resurface, recovering the lost place. The road to Primera will not be easy, but he does not wrinkle. Neither has soccer. Not life. But the 'Chocota' has built, with a tremendous dedication, a career that he hopes to round off with another promotion. For this he has the best compass: his family.
“How are you seeing Lightning?”
“Good, despite the latest results.” The team showed in Cartagena that it does not give a game for lost and we know that these months of competition are the most important. We play a lot. We must go game by game because thinking long term makes you go down.
“Can the Lightning aspire to direct promotion?”
—Last year we had a rather irregular championship, with many draws and we did not reach the playoffs. This time it is different, we have ups and downs, but almost from the beginning we have held those positions. That also makes us take care and value where we are. Against Espanyol he gave us all a buzz, although subsequent results put us back in reality. You have to stay in the playoffs and aim for more.
—This season the promotion will be expensive …
—Of all the years that I have been here, it is the most difficult for me to climb. Hopefully so, I would have a lot of credit for the quality of the rivals. I like Almería a lot because of how they presented the game to us when they came to Vallecas. Everyone knows how we play, but they prioritized their style.
—You are full, how are you doing about Trejo's second youth?
–(Laughs) When I arrived in Spain when I was 18 years old, I met with quite a few veterans who told me: 'What we would give to be your age'. I asked them why, if they were fine, but they replied: 'They judge you by a ball that you hit badly and being 20 is not the same as being 33'. People are guided more by figures than by sensations. It is true that football has changed in the last decade. There are friends of mine in Primera playing at 38-39 years old and they have merit because today very young people make their debut. When I came to Spain it cost a lot.
“The rivals tell us that they are lucky to play with Vallecas empty”
—He is the sixth player in Europe who receives the most fouls …
—We also hit a lot (laughs). Rivals tell me: “How are you kicking!” Well, it's the age, the situation… everything. You adapt to whatever position you are and that makes you grow because you try to do it well.
—You perform well as a midfielder, midfielder, false nine …
—Here I feel like in Santiago del Estero, when I go to training I greet the utility man, the masseur, the cleaning girl… I owe myself to Rayo and I have to give my best, whether it be good or bad. They have hit me enough sticks giving the maximum because it was not good. Even so, I demanded myself. Even in those moments I would return home calm since I emptied myself, I gave everything. It is a club that I love very much.
“What does it mean to be captain of the Lightning?”
-Is special. I have had colleagues who have worn the bracelet in an incredible way: Amaya, Trashorras, el Chori… Alberto! He is a guy who is 24 hours a day, thinking about what he can improve the club. A situation is happening in which few have the courage to do what he does: show his face, share moments with us … These are gestures that magnify him. He has set the bar very high because he takes great care of people and hopefully he can do half of what he has done.
—The captains have had to face difficult situations, from the ERTE to the communiqué.
—We are in a situation in which we have to raise our heads and fight for those who are next to us: the workers, the female, the quarry … I think we are doing well. We have always said that this is not the best because it wears out fighting every week, trying to achieve something … The club must be prepared and well so that we can take care of playing and get the promotion it deserves. That is why we have had meetings and agreed that things were going to improve.
“And have you noticed improvements?”
“Yes, but we don't want it to be this month and not two.” We ask for a process that lasts until June and gives people peace of mind, so that they can work towards their respective objectives. We hope that there will be no more problems between now and the end of the season.
—You have already experienced convulsive situations in the Ray. He was part of that promotion surrounded by defaults (10-11) …
—I spent that next to Movilla, Aganzo, Cobeño, Míchel, Coke… I learned how the club worked, how they managed it… When I returned four years ago I was surprised to find it the same and I told them so. We must go back to being the third club in Madrid and not the fifth, like now.
– Are you still saving the video of your goal against Xerez? Are you dreaming of another promotion?
—I keep looking at him (laughs). Also because of what it means, seeing people come in, your family crying, the calls from Argentina, your children telling you: “Daddy, that's great, now we're going to have vacations and go there.” I do not know how to explain it. Getting something like that in the best place I've been, triples everything imaginable. In the last climb, my parents could not travel due to health issues, but a lifelong friend and my nephew were there. Now we talk that if we get into the playoff they would come back to give us luck. Maybe.
—What is it like to play in Vallecas in times of COVID?
“Quite cold.” It is not due to missing other fields, but many rivals who come to Vallecas tell us that it is fortunate for them that there is no public. The full stands gave us that encouragement, that push, to win games. Without people, we are nothing. They make the club recognized everywhere.
—Vallecas has taught a lesson in the pandemic …
“It's what strikes me about the Lightning.” Regardless of how people are treated, that they continue to respond and support the club is admirable. We should be grateful and have to listen to them. They are the social mass, those who push, those who make us rise … We could not miss the occasion and what they have organized so that they know that we are with them.
—He also turned to his native Santiago del Estero through his Foundation, how was it born?
—I had a hard time going to train because of the economic issue, we didn't reach the monthly fee and to get around I had to go by bicycle or ask my parents for money. So, I told them that if I was going to play in Buenos Aires and win money, what I was going through was not going to be experienced by any other boy in the neighborhood because we would create a Foundation together. I had the school ten blocks away and the club a little further. My day to day was to go to school and help my mother, at that time my family had a business. On Saturday I played soccer and on Sunday I played basketball like my sisters. Sunday was a special day, it still is, we spent the day together, as a family. The fucked up is when we play (laughs), so the next you have to compensate.
“I saw Tevez as a superhero, thanks to my dad I got his shirt”
“Who was your idol as a child?”
-You look! We saw him as a superhero and we wanted to follow in his footsteps. I skipped some training sessions and school days to watch him train. At age 15, I went with my dad to a Nike event and Tévez was the special guest. I did not know. My father approached him to say: “My son is from Santiago, I know you like the city and its music… We only ask you for a photo in exchange for an empanada.” He came, took his photo and after twenty minutes he brought a shirt and signed it for me. It was one of the best days of my life.
“Looking back is Boca.” Did you have a thorn?
“Sometimes I say yes, but I am aware that everything I have experienced is the consequence of the decisions I made.” If I did, it was for something. Thanks to that I went through Mallorca, Elche, Vallecas, Gijón, Toulouse… and I have the family that I have. That weighs more than football.
“Where do you see yourself tomorrow?”
—I would like to spend a year with my family close by, to be able to have it on a daily basis, either here or in Argentina. Hopefully, in the Ray. Whenever I went home they told me that football had given them a lot of joy and also a lot of sadness. I have missed birthdays, Christmas … We footballers are privileged, although if I have to put a 'but' that's it.
“Are your children rayistas?”
“They're crazy about the Lightning!” They look at the scorers on the ipad and insist that I only have one goal. My son Lucca does a lot at school and tells me that I will not reach him (laughs). With my oldest daughter Mia, 8 years old, I talk a lot. I explain that when I was 12 I stopped seeing my parents. 'But where did you go?' He asks me. 'To Buenos Aires'. And that is more than a thousand kilometers and 14 hours by bus. And he asks me again if I wasn't crying … 'At first yes'. If they decide something tomorrow they will do it much more mature, trained and better advised.