FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
He started playing football at the age of four and currently plays as a right defender for the Albanian National Team.
Ivan Balliu comes in a long story about his football career from the first steps to the representation with the red and black colors. He talks to journalist Ivan Vargas about the situation in Albania, the summer European Championship in Germany and the experience he has had with the national team, but also in the clubs where he has played, such as in Portugal, France and Spain, without forgetting the years at La Masia.
How were the first steps in football?
I started playing football at the age of four. Everything was through my grandfather, because my parents don't like football at all. My mother, Marta, had a shoe store in town and my father, Salvador, was a taxi driver, so they had to work on weekends. My grandfather, Salvador, was the one who accompanied me every Saturday to play. Plus, he loved football. At that time, when I started with the city team I played as a striker, so imagine all the chances I missed over the years (laughs). Playing older than me, a scout from Girona came, saw me and signed me when I was about 9 years old. There I already changed my position on the field and started playing on the wing as a winger because I was very fast and in the last two years I was there I also played as a midfielder. After spending those two years at Girona, I signed with Barca.
Pep Guardiola called you in the preparatory phase in 2011 with the first team, how do you remember?
Madness! Living in another dimension. To go from sharing a room, to travel lying down during the flight. They would give you the clothes you wanted, like long or short sleeves, three-quarter length, etc., totally unbelievable. I was amazed by everything around me and I remember that, since they were individual rooms, I set fifty alarms and could hardly sleep at night for fear of falling asleep and being late for breakfast.
Your trip to France coincides with a call from Albania to play for the National Team...
It's funny, because before I always received a lot of messages on "X" in Albanian and I thought they were from confused people. Well, while I was in Metz, I was contacted by the Albanian Federation, who had just played the European Championship in France. They told me that the surname Balliu was super typical in Albania and that I had relatives there. From that moment, we started searching with their help, we found a thread to pull with a great-grandfather who emigrated, I was able to get my passport and debut with the National Team.
The way I am telling you, it seems quite simple, but the truth is that it took a lot to do, but the first step was like this: we met with the president of the federation in Paris, we went to eat and there he introduced me a project and told me that they wanted me to contribute to the growth of the national team. In fact, in almost every gathering two or three players who have never played before come and practically make their debut. Personally, I saw playing for Albania as a great opportunity. It was an opportunity that would bring me a lot and add a lot to me personally, as I would have the opportunity to play in a World Cup, a European Championship... Once the option came, I didn't think about it.
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