What happened to Philippe Senderos: the Swiss central defender who vomited after playing at the Bernabéu

Omeragic, Elvedi and Schär will be today the last bastion of Switzerland that Spain must overcome to beat Sommer. The Swiss centrals are not weak, but they are still far from that tall defense of Spanish origin who led their defense for many years and now directs a Swiss football great from his offices. Philippe Senderos is no longer part of the Swiss national team, he retired a few dates ago, at 35, but today's game will be special for him.

In fact, he is proud of his Spanish blood. His father, Julián, emigrated from Santiuste, in Guadalajara to Switzerland at the age of 17 to work and there he raised his family. Philippe was born, in whom he instilled his passion for football and for Real Madrid. Who would tell him that years later he would spend one of the best and worst moments of his long career there.

“My father is Spanish, from a place very close to Madrid, so he has always supported Real Madrid all his life. And since I was little I grew up watching Real Madrid and thinking that it was an incredible team that I would love to play for. the future. I remember that game and all that day at the Bernabéu because it was the day I was most nervous in all my life. I remember that I started vomiting on the pitch before the game just before the referee called for the start. I was living really my dream, but I was intimidated by the environment and the setting, “explains the excentral. Arsenal, his team won that Champions League match at the Bernabéu by 0-1, thanks to a goal from Henry, on February 21, 2006.

Senderos recalled how he used to go with his father to see Real Madrid, taking photos with the players. That day, beyond the nerves, neither Ronaldo nor Zidane nor Robinho could beat him, forming a duo with Touré. Servette, Arsenal, Milan, Everton, Fulham, Valencia, Aston Villa, Grasshopper, Rangers, Houston Dynamo and Chiasso. The lineup of equipment is long, it is not strange for a person who is fluent in six languages. Four participations in the final phase of a World Cup and a European Championship with Switzerland. They won the Community and the FA with Arsenal and a Euro Sub-17 with the Swiss team.

After retiring in his country, the Servette, has recruited him to take advantage of his knowledge and his facility for languages. He is the club's director of football operations, the sports chief. The Servette seeks to recover his past. In 2015 it suffered an administrative relegation to Third Division. In 2019 he returned to the First Division and now it is a matter of shortening the gap with the teams that have dominated Swiss football. That's what the good guy from Senderos is about.