What is Sergio Ballesteros?
Well, nothing, I do my thing, I have a company and there I am.
Totally away from football.
Yes, it is an agriculture and livestock company.
Did you want to move away or was it a natural process?
Because you had to continue somehow. It was a good start for me. I have relatives who are dedicated to that, so things go a bit there.
A Madrid-Levante arrives and it is inevitable to remember you. There are even some common points in his career. How did you experience those games?
Well, I don't see it that way. The truth. I have always taken the games against Madrid like any of the greats. With all the intensity, but without anything special. I don't have that perception.
I refresh him some. In his early days at Levante, Juande Ramos made his debut; in the end, coach of Madrid.
I was in the youth team of Levante and I was promoted to the first team. With the arrival of Juande Ramos I start to play. The truth is that it gives me a lot of confidence. From there I do a year and a half or so, until a Cup tie against Tenerife. They signed me in the second leg and I'm already there in December. From there he made his debut in the First Division, with Heynckes. That it is another of Madrid, it is true. I had not fallen.
Heynckes gave him a lot of confidence.
It was a decision more his than anyone's as I later learned. He insisted. They followed me after the first Cup match and it was on the return leg that they decided to buy me from Levante. When I was there he treated me very well. He demanded a lot of me, he wanted to teach me. The truth is that I dedicate a lot of time, which I will always thank him for because I think he has been the most important coach I have ever had. Above all, when you start, having someone of that background and of that level who is aware of a young boy, that is key.
I understand that because of his role as a central defender and midfielder in the beginning (then he definitely delayed his position in the center of the rear) Fernando Hierro would be a reference.
He has always been a player that I liked. From the beginning to the end of his career. He seemed to me to be one of the best center-backs, midfielders or wherever he played. And yes, the truth is that yes. And with the National Team … He has always been someone that I have liked a lot.
Few remember that you were European champion with the U21 (With Salgado, Guti or Morientes, among others).
It was very important to me. He was also captain and I played 18 or 20 international matches with the U21. The bitch was I broke my hip bone in the semi-final against Norway and I missed the final. It was a bitch. Then I was unemployed for eight months. It is said soon.
Did you get opportunities to be absolute?
I broke in the semifinals and I was practically the whole season without playing. Until March, I think. We dropped precisely that year with Tenerife to Second. It was a difficult season. Then later on, I don't know if it was at Rayo or Villarreal, or Mallorca, I don't know, it did seem like he could have entered at some point. But the truth is that they never called me.
His best goal, according to his own version, was at the Bernabéu with Villarreal.
Man, at the end for the stage. I think we lost that game (Real Madrid 2-1 Villarreal, on 01/24/2004, with goals from Solari (14 '), Ronaldo (54') and Ballesteros (86 ')). But hey, we were very close. We were a Villarreal that was starting. The club was growing a lot and we were a very humble team. It was a beautiful, important goal, although then it was useless.
His career has gone through humbler teams, but he has played four times in Europe. (With Tenerife, Rayo, Villarreal and Levante)
Yes, the truth is that to be humble teams, with Villarreal we reached the UEFA semifinals, with Tenerife we also reached the semifinals, with Rayo I think we reached the quarterfinals and with Levante, the eighth. But we came very close to passing. The truth is. With four teams, four times in Europe.
In those more humble teams is it where you exploited your potential?
Well, in the end the trajectory of each one is many circumstances. I had the possibility of going to England, when I was playing in the National Team, I was about 21 or 22 years old. What happens is that they did not let me go. In the end, there are many circumstances that mark a career. In all the teams where I have been they have loved me a lot and in the end when there has been a possibility of going to another place, the truth is that it has always been quite difficult. They are circumstances. Sometimes you don't know where they are going.
He didn't know about England. A football that would have fit like a glove for its qualities. Although I understand that at that time going abroad was going on an adventure.
Yes, of course, keep in mind that we are talking about 97 or 98. Some players were starting to come out, some were starting to go there … But it wasn't easy. In my case, it was Southampton that put up to one billion pesetas approximately, I think they even spoke. Six million euros. They came to put them in 97 … imagine. But the truth is that at that time I was very well. He played with the National Team, a 21-year-old boy in Tenerife who was playing in Europe and had great pretensions. There was a great team and they had no financial difficulties. The truth is that they didn't let me out. That was the reality. And then I got injured. That's why everything is very changeable. Sometimes you don't know where the shots are going.
It would have coincided with Matt Le Tissier. (Southampton 1992-2002)
Ah, it can be. I could not tell you.
With almost 400 games in the First Division (387, specifically) one of his most iconic moments is his career with Cristiano Ronaldo. How do you remember it? What do you think of the residue you have left over the years?
It had a lot of repercussion. But, well, let's see, I've always considered myself a fast player. What happens is that, of course, at that time I was 36 years old and it was a bit striking. Cristiano is and has been one of the best players in the world and in history. For someone 36 years old, in a modest team, to win a race that way, it was quite shocking.
Maybe it's a bit of a contrast shock. Cristiano, the perfect physique, and Ballesteros, a normal guy, which made him striking.
Yes, well, it can be. The truth is that I have always been a pretty fast guy. In the long run especially. My physique has always been bigger, more kilos, heavier … it can crash because of that. But in the end each one is as it is (laughs).
The three years that he has been with Levante in First match with Madrid de Mourinho. Some encounters of which sparks flew.
We were a very humble team, as Levante continues to be. What happens is that I have always thought, in all the teams I have been in, that any team, even if it is very humble, deserves respect. Professional minimum. And, well, there was some detail that was not very correct. That is why from there there were a series of controversies and some confrontations. But without further ado.
How did Sergio Ramos' invitation to dedicate himself to other sports such as boxing fit in?
What he had said or whatever he had done does not matter to me. What mattered to me was defending my team, my club. That was the important thing. All the comments that can be made later, outside the field, are controversial that no longer interest me. They didn't interest me at the time.
Would you renew it near turning 35? (Ballesteros played until he was 37, close to 38).
Man, I, from what I see, is physically fine. Because of my age, I don't think it is, because it is also at an age that has all the capabilities to the full. He is a player with an impressive track record. Of course, a couple of more years being at a medium-high level I'm sure you will have them. Insurance.
And Morales? It is in a similar situation.
Morales the same. He is a very important player for Levante, really. It is in a very good moment. He has started the season at a great level and he is still very important for the team. They are already issues between club and player. Sometimes we don't have enough information to give an opinion on how to play.
What they do have in common is that they are two symbols for their unrenewed teams. By way of reflection, why are endings so complicated? Especially when the player has been very important.
Well I do not know. I guess endings are always tough on everything. In all areas of life. Sometimes it is not known very well, neither by the club or the player, when the end is. But there is always someone who makes a decision. Or there is always someone who takes a first step. And that leads to closing operations or breaking them. I don't know, but the truth is that it has happened in the history of football and in many sports. The finals of great players or athletes have always been more difficult or problematic.
Sometimes it is difficult to make the decision.
It's complicated. I imagine that one, although physically you may begin to notice some downturn, always thinks that the experience is very important. You look good on the field, you feel comfortable, you see that you perform … But, of course, you see that. The same from the outside they begin to see some deficiency, they begin to see something … It is very complicated. The endings are very complicated. The truth.
Its final I remember that it was not easy at all.
It was not the dream farewell. That's why I tell you that farewells or endings are sometimes complicated. But, well, I was on my way to 38, I had two or three months to complete them. I knew that I had very little left. It is so. He rushed over and I took it on as play. With sportsmanship and that's it.
It was a final that was marked by the accusation of fixation for the 2011 Cup match between Levante and Zaragoza. What was it like to live under suspicion in your last years?
Well regrettable. The truth. They have been very hard years. Very difficult and very unfair. It has been very sad. But hey, sometimes you have that sign, that cross, and you have to carry it. In the end the important thing is that justice has put things in their place. The problem is that it has been a long time.
Of course.
That is the difficulty of these things. So much time goes by that, although later justice gives you reason, the truth is that those years where you have been talking, criticizing and thinking that you were a cheating player stay there.
They are all acquitted for almost a decade.
Has been long time. Actually the complaint is put a year and a bit later. I think they put it in 2013 or 2014. It's been almost seven years. The surprising thing is that they file the complaint a year or so later, almost two years, when they said they had everything so clear. It's something I've never understood. In all the trials we have gone through, I have never understood that they gave credibility to that.
Do you think that somehow they wanted to use you as a precedent against corruption in Spanish football?
Light man. But it is that everything starts from there. Tebas uses that complaint to try to be president of LaLiga. Which then gets it. Use this judgment to climb positions. Be a kind of champion of fair play. And it uses us. Use a match and from there everything is triggered. Leaks and all kinds of stories.
How do you value the role of Thebes, who even gave you a first and last name?
He is a person who does not care about eight or eighty. It does not matter to point to one or the other. The important thing was him, him and then him. Use this to scale. It doesn't matter if I put one or the other. At that time I was one of the captains, my name sounded more familiar to him and it's the one he put.
Do you think his tough guy fame didn't help public opinion?
I do not know. But one thing has nothing to do with the other. It has nothing to do with it.
What reflection do you get out of this whole process?
Well, justice is slow, but in the end it puts things in their place. There have been many people who have used this to fill in covers, make comments, talk … Regardless of the damage that could be done. The presumption of innocence has been passed over by quite a few people. Once the trial is over, after so many years, after a statement in the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office in Madrid, a trial under investigation, another trial in the first instance and then an appeal to the Court, after all this there are people who He has shelved and does not care what he said or how he said it. But that's life. It happens to everyone. But, well, it does show the category of some.
Despite those last years, he has not altered his status as a legend in Levante. In Orriols they continue to remember him as one of those period defenses.
I have always demonstrated through my game and my personality. I have given everything. Seeing all these things, I imagine that there have been people with doubts. But to me, personally, they have never shown that to me. I have felt affection. I believe that the Levante fan who has seen me defend the shirt, the vast majority, have not bought this movie that was made. But of course, when they accuse you and you go out in all the media, it is logical that there are people who have doubts. But in the end the reality has been proven and people can be calmer.
I do not see much of social networks, but the debate of the defense or the famous central hierarchy is still valid. Always with the memory of Sergio Ballesteros.
That they remember you with affection and as someone important is beautiful. In the end they are moments. In all teams there are important players. There are always people who mark a little a few years. But in those years it wasn't just me, more players were very important to the team.
There you lived a second youth. You arrive at Levante with 33 years, in Second, the team in competition … and you end up in Europe. You have lived the growth of the club from within.
When I got the truth, it was a very precarious situation. Just entered the contest, with many sporting, economic, social problems … Very few people went to the field. There was a year, or a year and a half, that was quite difficult. But a great squad was made. A great team, led by Luis García, in which we show that with humility, work and effort, things can be achieved. In the end we were promoted to First, which I think was something crazy. With the budget we had, the team we had … But it was a spectacular group of people. Then we got the permanence which was also almost another milestone. They were very complicated years, but the truth was that they were very beautiful.
Now you see the stadium, when it could go public, with 20,000 people and it is something else. That evolution started with that group.
Yes, it really is when everything begins, since the arrival of Quico Catalán. It was very important. At that time of difficulties he appeared with his Board of Directors and they began to lay the foundations of today's Levante. They started little by little, increasing the social, sporting and economic mass. Of course, being in First with income gave you to reduce the debt that you had, which was tremendous, and carry everything a little.
Sports stability has arrived in recent years with Paco López, with whom he coincided in the beginning. What was he like as one of the veterans of the group?
As a partner my memory is spectacular. He was a very good companion. Very good player. The memory I have is spectacular.
And actually?
I think Paco is one of the best coaches in the First Division. I think he is a coach with his own stamp, he has created a style, he has a daring and a way of approaching things, for me, spectacular. With a good squad, but who knows how to handle it very well. You practically have all the equipment plugged in. It is a success for Levante to have Paco as coach.
The DNA has changed regarding his Levante.
Yes, Levante right now is a fun team to watch. Of attack, of arriving with many players in the area, of making very fast transitions … it is one of the teams that right now anyone likes to see. In our time we were a team with more experience, more counterattack and looking for a clean sheet. Different But in the end, what matters are the results and since he's been here, the team is in the First Division, doing good football and I think it's a very good moment.
How important is it for a coach to take root in a club?
It's very important. Above all, coaches with Paco's personality: good people, who have even played for the same club. It is very important to have this type of coaches who make a club, who can be there for many years due to their characteristics and personality. That gives stability to the team, the club and the fans that is very positive. Stability is the most important and the most difficult thing to achieve in a club.
I imagine you had many coaches.
Yes … I have had many. I have had seasons with three coaches. Because there are economic or sports situations that mark everything. The results mark the trajectories. It is so. There are times of difficulty where there are clubs, presidents, or boards of directors who have less patience or see a need for change. When decisions are made, they may or may not be correct.
Can you see it on the benches?
No, let's see, I can't see myself on the bench. I see myself more at school, working the quarry.
What is in force is a clause in his contract that allowed him to return to the club in sports management. Would you like to return to Levante?
Of course I would like to go back to Levante. To be part of any of the plots and to be able to contribute my grain of sand. I would be delighted, really.
Is it compatible with your life in the field?
Yes, everything is compatible (laughs).
How do you see the team?
It is a year of many difficulties. The preseason has not been good for everyone and there are teams that have paid more dearly. There are important players who have been injured. There is the issue of the coronavirus, which has you set aside for 15 days and returning at the same rate is impossible. You have to start over. I think that Levante has already passed that bad section and has found stability. Then there is the caramelito de la Copa, which from the first moment gave importance and went with everything. Now they are in a very nice tie to enter the semi-finals. It would be a historical thing.
Was the Cup going?
Yes, I do. I have always liked the Cup very much. Both the one-game and two-game qualifiers. Always. What happens is that when you are playing descents or you are at the bottom there is always fear of possible injuries … In the end, LaLiga is the most important thing. But when templates are involved there are always possibilities. It is a way of giving minutes to players who are not having continuity and that can lead to more opportunities. In fact, I started in the First Division thanks to the Cup.