The Pride of Vallekas

His story is not unique. It is a story of a family fleeing violence, settling in a foreign land and making a name for themselves through hard work. It's the story of a striker named Tariq Spezie. It's a story that interested me because his brothers (Omar and Nura) were born in Dubai, a city I've lived in. And he was born in Sharjah, merely an hour away from Dubai. His Italian father from Verona (who worked in a tire company) and Spanish mother from La Mancha - which explains his last name Sevilla - saw the political situation in the region worsen. It eventually led to the Iran-Iraq War, and the family relocated to Italy with their one-year infant, and later to Spain. Tariq played youth football in modest clubs in Catalonia, such as Racing Blanenc and Vilobí, and supplemented his fluent Italian with Castilian and Catalan. However, he moved to Valladolid due to a family relocation, and made his senior debut with Real Valladolid B at the age of 19. He would compete the 1...

Last season, I repeatedly sung the praises of Ernesto Galán. He is a former center-back and current right-back - quick, defensively excellent and surprisingly adept going forward and covering for players. However, and quite surprisingly, I never actually wrote about him - his career and his story. Which is a shame, but better late than never I guess. Here it is. Ernesto Galán was struggling. His youth career had started with Villaviciosa de Odón releasing him and ended with Getafe releasing him too. His senior career had started with Segunda B side Móstoles in the 2005-06 season, playing 32 games under four different managers, but the team was relegated. Having played in Madrid all his life, and with his career in jeopardy, the decision to leave was a huge gamble. But he did - in 2006 he signed for Lleida. It was a risk - and it certainly felt like one at the beginning. Felipe Miñambres gave him just three league games in six months, and he had to pack his bags once again f...