FOOTBALL4GOOD MAGAZINE | MARCH 2020

WHAT ARE YOUR EARLIEST MEMORIES IN FOOTBALL? From a very young age there are many photos of me with a ball. I remember being six years old, on the way to school on my first day. There was a sign on the door that said there was a football team and whoever was interested could sign up. When I started it was only me and the boys. We made good friends and as we got older, we moved to the local team in our community. WHAT ROLE DID FOOTBALL PLAY GROWING UP? My father is a huge football fan. Since I can remember he’s spoken to me about Atlético de Madrid. I used to go to the Vicente Calderón Stadium with him, my mother, and my sister. We had season tickets. I remember perfectly the corner in the Calderón where I sat. WHEN DID PLAYING BECOME MORE THAN A HOBBY? I was very young when I made my debut with the Atlético first team, at age 15. At that time, it was not like now when maybe a group of sev- eral young girls come through all at once. Back then, we’re talking about a team of women in their thirties. The difference between myself and them was huge. Not long afterwards, I got called up to the U-17’s national team and then I started to realise that this was serious. I noticed a change in responsi- bility. I noticed it with my family too. Before they were coming, having a good time watching me have a good time, but suddenly they were nerv- ous. They’re weren’t watching me play, they were watching football become my life and my work. HOW DID THEY SUPPORT THAT TRANSITION? I’m fortunate that together with my father we squeezed every last inch out of football and my mother has always been on top of organising and supporting my studies. If it had not been for them I wouldn’t have been able to study in parallel and succeed in my football career. It wasn’t simply a matter of training in the af- ternoon, it was days spent away from school with the national team. Recovering physically was one thing, but I had to also catch up with my class on what I’d missed. Instead of be- coming overwhelmed, I had my mother and sister close by to help me. AT AGE 15 WHAT DID THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE? Back then I didn’t have the luck that many girls have nowadays who, by being able to watch women’s football, have female role models. I used to imagine that I was Fernando Torres entering a stadium full of people, even if I was playing on a pitch made of dirt. It was hard to actually visualise myself playing in stadiums like the Vicente Calderón and the Wanda Metropolitano, where I’d never seen any women play. IS IT THE SAME FOR YOUNG GIRLS GROWING UP AND PLAYING TODAY? The new generations have it slightly easier. They can follow a path that already exists and do not have to find one, as we had to ourselves. In sport, and in any area of life, if you want to get something and you can see the path to that something, it’s much easier than starting from scratch. It’s definitely not easy, but it’s different. It’s also super positive. WHO WERE YOUR FEMALE ROLE MODELS GROWING UP? My role models were male, my perception of reality and what success looked like were dif- ferent to now. Now a young girl can look at me and see that this possibility exists. I realise now how much a woman needs to win to actually be in the media. I have followed the careers of swimmer Mireya Belmonte and badminton play- er Carolina Marín – both Olympians. They’ve had to win and keep winning to become known. Seeing these figures in the media again and again, you start researching and admiring. I respect individual sports athletes a lot because I understand the mental pressures you have on yourself. Living through that cannot be easy. COMPARED TO INDIVIDUAL ATHLETES, WHAT ARE THE MENTAL PRESSURES OF PLAYING IN A TEAM? In team sports, you have to manage the motiva- tion and personal moments of each other. If one player suffers, you all have to suffer for them. Sportsmanship, solidarity and motivation, from one teammate to another, is essential. If I see something I think is not good for the group, I’ll say something, so it doesn’t affect the group. Teamwork it is not easy but it is beautiful. “IN SPORT, AND IN ANY AREA OF LIFE, IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMETHING AND YOU CAN SEE THE PATH TO THAT SOMETHING, IT’S MUCH EASIER THAN STARTING FROM SCRATCH.” 8 9 FOOTBALL4GOODMAGAZINE | MARCH2020 IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW