"I have a big nose and I wear glasses. If I put the mask on, my glasses will fog up. If I put the mask on, the LaLiga inspector scolds me. The poor man must always be reminding me:" Pol, please, the mask "Even the first week of training I had to get a speaker and a microphone." Pol Lorente Solá (Barcelona, ​​1988) has been the physical preparer of the CD Leganés since Javier Aguirre claimed it in November, after having shared an intense adventure with the Egypt team. His last "year and peak" has been a roller coaster between Japan, Cairo and Leganés, where he has lived through the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic. Last weekend he saw his parents again, who reside in Cobisa (Toledo), after about eighty days, thanks to the fact that his parents' address is on his ID. "I do not want to get too close for them, and also for myself. For my work. They have done several tests, so imagine that I am positive with LaLiga about to resume," he admits in conversation with EL MUNDO.

Beyond his role on the CD Leganés, Pol has gained popularity during confinement thanks to the club's training on social media. And that he has neither Twitter nor Instagram. "I went to do the first session on YouTube and discovered that I had to have registered 24 hours in advance. I had already called up the footballers, so we opted to start with Twitch, which is an open channel. It was so well received, that We decided to open the first half hour of training to the public. It was something unexpected and personally it has filled me a lot, "he recalls of those difficult days in March, with society confined to their homes, rescuing from memory that day when he had to interrupt an issue because online shopping came home.

Stories like that of that sixty-year-old man who broke his crusader and evolved thanks to that half-hour daily routine have reached his ears. "I have come to receive threats not to quit, when it was necessary to start face-to-face training. There were very hooked people," jokes this Catalan by birth, who has lived for more than 20 years in Toledo. In the last session, he started wearing a Harry Potter dress and had the complicity of Captain Unai Bustinza and goalkeeper Pichu Cuéllar to give a magical touch to the matter: "This situation has united us emotionally."

On Monday, at last, Pol was able to return to work with all his players at once. All gathered on the same lawn of the Butarque sports city. "What has cost us most has been the uncertainty of how everything was evolving. One day individual training, the following week with six, on Sunday the 24th he had prepared to train with eight and LaLiga issued a statement to do it with 14. And so many days The most tedious thing has been the uncertainty. " Now, he has a date to focus his training plan around that Saturday, June 13 (7:30 p.m.), in which Leganés will restart without his people the battle to continue in the First against Valladolid. "At the time, I divided the two fields into 15-meter lanes, so that the player knew where he had to go. 'In which lane am I going today, Pol? In three and don't get out of there all morning.' The goal is very simple: get to the start in the best conditions. "

And although weeks, months ago, when the coronavirus physically drove people away, even today it is still a strange reality. "It is no longer just a professional matter. I consider myself a professional person who is quite close. A few days ago it was Cuéllar's birthday and I would have liked to give him a hug, but you cannot. Also, when you have to correct a footballer, you like to approach him and talk to him. Explain the exercise and touch him, if necessary. They are basic situations that are impossible right now. "

"I have become an acceptable chef"

In that day to day, Pol Lorente has also had to exercise a little psychologist with some of his pupils. "A few days ago, the first thing I did was sit down with a footballer who has a sick family member and talk to him about it. You try to know about the personal situation of each one, because there are many who are far from their country and are young" , relates. It is not the only personal anecdote: "There is one, for example, that his wife is about to give birth and does not want to do it in Spain. 'How do I do it, Pol?', He asks me. 'We have to talk to the club to see how they can help us, 'I replied. "

What has already become a habit is having to report your plans daily to the kitchen, nutritionist, lawn, doctor, cleaning ... and Javier Aguirre, of course. Things of this pandemic. At least, he has not neglected his own physical preparation, although he has sometimes had to hide it. "There were times when I thought: 'I have passed three towns, I am busted'. But I had to finish the session as it was and then I would die on the sofa. The first two days of the race, I bought a couple of ice packs to get into them in the bathtub, because I knew the next day I would be liquidated. "

The confinement, at least, has allowed him to discover an alternative in case he ever gets tired of football: "I must admit that I have had time to become an acceptable chef. With a food processor, of course. My risottos are spectacular. I think Chicote would not close my kitchen. "

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