‘Here we live on football’
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Erik and Leandro start their Italian ‘Eccellenza’ after a season full of trips, prestigious tournaments and high level opponents.
Leandro González and Erik Aguado are still training together, like last year. They are playing in a different category, team and country. But will both continue to wear the same colours as each other. Italian football came knocking on their doors in the summer and neither of them doubted for a second. They were ready to leave Marcet’s High Performance Academy and start their adventure into professional football with Atletico Vieste.
Their final season with Marcet was vital in their athletic journey. It was a year that was full of trips, international tournaments and matches against high level opposition. “The most significant part of the experience was playing and scoring against FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol”, recalls Erik. The Mexican forward had been in Spain for four years and the Javier Marcet Memorial gave him the chance to shine against such challenging opponents
“I was fourteen when I got to Marcet and everything went perfect”, Erik tells us. “In that time I improved a lot, on a footballing level as well as academically. I met people from all over the world, and learned to coexist with different cultures… They were four unforgettable years and I will never forget the support that Marcet gave me, with all of the new things I learnt on a daily basis and all of the friends that I made there”.
One of those friends is Leandro, Spanish centre back who had attended courses at Marcet from an early age: “I used to go every summer to continuously improve, until I got into the High Performance Academy. It was a huge change, because I played in matches that I could never have imagined”. Like the clash against Atlético de Madrid, during a tour of the Spanish capital. Or the Oviedo Cup, one of the best U-16s tournaments around.
During this tournament, Marcet’s camera men followed Leandro and Erik’s team from up close. In the video below, the Mexican forward tells us about his feeling before, during and after such an important competition:
In a matter of months everything has changed. Video-reports made by analysts at Marcet played a part in Atletico Vieste taking a liking to Erik and Leandro, who are both now in the south of Italy competing in the ‘Eccellenza’ category. “It’s the most complicated group in the whole country”, the Spanish defender explains. “We’re now playing for a team that is supported by the whole city. The players here live on football and that carries a lot of responsibility”, Leandro assures, convinced that this experience will make him mature very quick.
“We’re facing a new challenge, we’re learning a new style of play and going up against older opponents”, Erik Adds. “This means that we have to put in double the effort and obviously it’s much more demanding. But with effort anything can be achieved”.