Copa El Rayo, before receiving Messi: Defaults, old shirts and footballers returning in Metro
As a child, Mario Suárez (Madrid, 1987) hallucinated with Redondo and Vieira: "They seemed spectacular to me."
For them he grabbed the midfielder and there he continues, on the way to 34 years, with the Rayo strip on his chest.
His adventure in Vallecas started two years ago and today he is one of the captains and, therefore, an authorized voice in the team.
Barça arrives, in the Cup, and he has a handful of memories about old battles.
They say that Vallecas marks you. Is that so? In my case, quite a bit. Despite the problems that may arise, your people respond with deeds rather than words. They are always there to help. El Rayo is the neighborhood team, from a humble neighborhood to which no one has given anything away and where things are achieved with effort, sacrifice and humility. They represent values that in these times are to be admired. When you wear this shirt, you can play well or badly, but you cannot negotiate the effort. Has your life changed a lot compared to the one you wore when you played for Atlético? These are other times. At Atlético he was younger and is a great in Europe. I was lucky to be in the best period of its recent history. A lot of demand both at a personal level, as a club, in the press ... Also physically and emotionally. But in the end it is what every player wants: to compete for titles and reach a great one. Now I am in an important and historical club at the national level. Maybe we don't have that requirement that I think would be good for everyone. We are in Second and that leads to less visibility. I'm proud to be here and I'm looking forward to returning Rayo to where it should be, he faced Míchel (his first Rayo coach) as a player and also Iraola, his current coach. Does it get weird? It can be weirder outside. We normalize it and they are things that can happen. But I hope it continues to happen to me, that will mean that I will continue playing for many years. In this Cup without an audience or box office, is Barcelona in the second round a chore or an illusion? It's a chore because you play against a team that you know will make you suffer and will make you run after the ball. It's a chore because we don't have our people. But at the same time it is an illusion because it is nice to face such a team. There are teammates who have never played against Barça, and they do not seem to be at their best, they are experiencing institutional and extra-sports problems, which I know from experience how they affect. As much as they say that Barcelona is not the best, they are international players and they are going to make it very difficult for us, and while Luis Suárez, 34, leaving at Atlético, age is already a lie. It is just a number. An advantageous excuse that they have according to what people for not valuing other things. There are many examples: Joaquín, Navas ... Luis Suárez is showing it. The goal is worth money. He was in that Atlético that won the League (2014), how do you see this Atlético from the outside? They are very solid and with a forward (Luis Suárez) in a state of grace. It seems very difficult for me to miss this League, because I don't see a Simeone team lose five or six games in one round and the rest win seven or eight. I see them as very solid and with players making a difference, like Joao Félix. He recently put a tweet praising Busquets, his rival. Playing for Barcelona and the national team is fabric. For me he is the best there has ever been and there will be as a positional midfielder. In this country we have very little memory. In other places, legends are admired even if they fail. You can talk about the failure, but not be disrespectful. Here there is very little memory with those who gave us the World Cup, he is very active on social networks. Has it caused you any problems or does it matter a bit? It's something I take as naturally as possible. It is a tool that we use and I am aware that, when you express an opinion or upload a photo or video, you are exposed to other people's opinions of you, because it is something public. If there are people who disrespect you or insult you, you are not amused, but I take it for what it is. Then those people see you face to face and they won't tell you. They are behind a false name or profile and are free to comment, as I am to give my opinions. I try not to give it more importance than it has. How many tweets that you had prepared have you ended up deleting? A few [laughs]. Sometimes I get hot. Sometimes issues can be misinterpreted, especially political ones. I think people do not respect according to what opinions. The political issue is neither going nor coming to me, I've always said it. I want the country to do well, to tackle crises in the best possible way. It is where more controversy is created and people lose the pot a bit. If someone expresses their opinion, it must be respected. Politics should not be a taboo subject, but it is not convenient to mix it with sports for the good of all. His former partner Saúl admitted that he was not going through his best mental moment. Is that aspect of footballers overlooked? Outside the door, it is thought that footballers are machines and we cannot have personal problems. That, since we earn money well and do what we like, we have to always be well. We are privileged, but all the players have worked hard to be where we are and the mental issue is very important. Tell us about the trip to Miranda de Ebro, in the middle of the snow. That day we came from several infections in the team, we we had done some tests and we couldn't get out until the results came out. When we left it had already started to snow and everywhere they said not to take any means of transport except in extreme necessity. The players saw that we were entering the road, the cars stopped, with the Covid cases, five hours there, two hours stopped, helping other cars ... By common sense, apart from the Covid, it was going to be impossible to reach Miranda or , at the very least, dangerous to health. Time proved us right and we consider that we should not have taken that risk. Days ago (January 16) the staff released a statement against the board. How did you get there? This does not come from something specific. For a long time, the news that usually comes out of Rayo has been negative and little is said about sports. It's a shame that a historic club like Rayo is like this. With the statement we evidenced problems that we consider easy to fix. We want to return the Ray to First and that there is harmony. That we don't waste time or energy on things that only cloud the club's image. Has anything changed? I know they intend to fix things. But the words remain in the air, the facts matter.
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