The Pride of Vallekas

"Thanks for having this interest for lower teams in Spain. That is something that even in my country we lack as everyone cares about Real Madrid and Barcelona but don't see the local and amateur football dying year after year. " -Juan Manuel Serrano "Thanks for contacting me...[projects like these] make the world of football grow!" -Xavi Pérez Ureña For the last 19 days, I published 45 interviews by fans, writers, players and coaches. I wasn't expecting to have so many wonderful people respond to me, and I thank them for their time and cooperation, as well as for answering so many questions! I'm going to be honest here - I certainly wasn't expecting to interview an ex-Barcelona player - let alone two of them. I wasn't expecting to interview a footballer with three consecutive league titles. Or the assistant technical director of Rayo Vallecano. Or an Ipswich legend. Or the nephew of Juan Sabas. Or Mikel Alonso - again. I also...

When did you make the decision to pursue football and what motivated you to do so? It has always been a dream for me to became a footballer since a I was a little boy.  When I was called by the national team at the age of 15 I realized that my dream could be true. What was the experience like when you played for Celta Vigo for the first time? I remember that I was very excited because I was only 16 years old and it was a very happy moment. How would you describe your time at Celta, and do you think your experiences on loan at Numancia and Recreativo helped shape you as a player? I was very young, everything passed by very fast. It was the moment when finally my dream of being a footballer came true. It was a learning experience. At Numancia and Recre was my first time away from home and family, for a 18 year old boy it could be difficult but that made me grow as a person and made me realize that that is the life of a professional footballer. You helped the Spain unde...