The Pride of Vallekas

Pop quiz: in the 2013-14 season, who completed more passes than Xavi, with 2,936 passes (2,537 good) to 2,587 (2,406)? In the 2014-15 season, who completed more passes than Toni Kroos, with 2,566 passes (2,213 good) to 2,353 (2,170)?  In the 2015-16 season, who  completed more passes than Toni Kroos, with  2,693 passes (2,351 good) to 2,425 (2,277)? Trashorras. Duh. The Rayo midfield linchpin has done it again - for the fourth consecutive season, he is on course to become the player with the most passes in the league he plays in. Player Team Total Passes Short Passes Long Passes Through Balls Trashorras Rayo 2,179 1,872 303 4 Fernando Seoane Lugo 2,175 1.940 234 1 Folch Reus 2,055 1,776 278 1 Zapater Zaragoza 1,998 1,728 265 5 Carlos Pita Lugo 1,844 1,539 302 3 Stats as per the 39th jornada i.e. before the Zaragoza game - Trashorras was suspended anyways! Also, considering the Seoane has played 545 minutes m...

Marius Helgå is a 40 year old Gimnàstic fan who lives in Oslo. He is originally from Mo i Rana, Norway (1000 km north from Oslo). He has two hobbies: "playing bass trombone and watching football."  He runs the Twitter account @nasticnoruega for Gimnàstic fans in Norway. As if he wasn't hipster enough, he also supports Stålkameratene who are in the fifth level of Norwegian football. Not to mention Tromsø (Norwegian top level), Manchester United, Juventus and Eintracht Frankfurt. Follow him on Twitter here . How long have you been a fan of Gimnàstic and what made you support them in the first place? I visited Tarragona on a trip to Spain in 2006, and immediately fell in love with the city. As I didn’t have a club I supported in Spain then, it was an easy choice to start supporting the club. Given the transfer windows and the squad that was assembled at the start of the season, is Gimnàstic where you want it to be? After a great 2015-16 season, I was rea...

When did you make the decision to pursue football coaching and what motivated you to do so? Well, I’ve been interested in it since always. I was a football player when I was a kid, and my football coaches used to be my target. It’s why I’ve been working in football for so many years and  I hope to do so for many more years to come. What was your background before Liverpool came calling? I used to be in my local town, which is Reus - they’re now in the second division. I was also at Gimnàstic de Tarragona, before which I worked for UE Rapitenca. I used to be involved in organisation and football coaching while at the same time obtaining my coaching license (while at Rapitenca) and studying sports science at the Universitat de Lleida for four years. What were the first thoughts in your mind when Liverpool offered you a position and was Rafael Benítez connected to the deal? I was the first Spanish coach there but was never appointed by Rafael Benítez - I was appointed...