FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Ivan Balliu grew up in Barcelona, the only football player from Albania who was cooked in the dough of "La Masia", a world football school. His story in our National Team is strange, starting from his retirement and debut with Albania, to ending with his development in the red and black. He is often seen on the bench, returning to play a super match, then a more normal match and then back to the bench again.
This is what happened recently, as Balliu played the match of his life against Georgia in the transfer, the last time he had played so well was in a friendly match with Spain, as in the European Championship, his arm was completely free for Grimaldo who crossed and he scored balls from there whenever he wanted.
Balliu was somewhat more normal in the two games in November, although he did not make any big mistakes that affected the result. Recently our player gave a long interview, a long confession for Sport Jot Down in Spain. He talked about how he came to Albania, he talked about the great development of Albanian football in terms of infrastructure, he told about Lionel Messi, but he also made a shocking choice. Despite proudly stating that he is Albanian, there was no doubt for Balli, winning the Europa League with Vallecano is more exciting for him than winning the European Championship with Albania.
" Lionel Messi always treated me very well. I had an Argentinian agent at the time who got on very well with his father and the way he treated me while I was there was always spectacular. Unbelievable. Messi was very reserved, sitting in his place in the dressing room, there with his mobile phone. It is what you say, that he had a gift from God. I'd go out to work out, I'd go to the club two hours earlier, go to the gym, walk, cycle, do some exercise… and he didn't do anything: he left the phone when we finished, and just started the normal workout, and then he did it that he wanted .
Albania? It's funny, because before I always received a lot of messages on Twitter in Albanian and I thought they were from confused people. Well, when I was already in Metz, I was contacted by the Albanian Federation, which had just played in the European Championship in France.
They told me that the surname Balliu was very typical in Albania and that I had relatives there. From that moment we started to search with their help, we found a thread to pull with an emigrant great-grandfather, I was able to get my passport and debut with the national team.
The way I am telling you seems quite simple, but the truth is that it was quite difficult to do this, but the first step was like this: we met with the president of the Federation in Paris, we went to dinner and there he presented me with a project and told me they would like me to help them grow.
Since so many people have emigrated from Albania to other countries, the Federation itself has a department that is responsible for finding players of Albanian origin, and there are plenty of them. In fact, almost every international break, two or three players come in who have never played before and they practically make their debut so they can at least say, "He's ours now."
Personally, I saw playing for Albania as a great opportunity. It was a chance that would bring me a lot and contribute a lot to my career, as I would also have the opportunity to play in a World Cup, a European Championship... As soon as the option appeared, I didn't think twice.
Every time we are there they treat us very well and we get a lot of love. It is true that these last few years have gone very well with the European qualification. The country supports us a lot and you feel like a king because they treat you spectacularly in every way. The truth is that I feel a lot of love and I am proud to be Albanian. The fans there are crazy, all the tickets are sold ahead of time, you hear all sorts of crazy things, they sell and buy cars just to get tickets and see Albania, you hear a lot of nonsense, they are crazy about the National Team and yes, they make you you feel like a king ".
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