Sergio Canales: "I would like to be more courageous and say 'no', but in the end I am in Saudi Arabia and I am going to play"

The boy who shone in

, exploded in

, landed in

and experienced a drama with injuries touched the cupbearer sky with

last April.

The roller coaster that has been the career of

(Santander, 1991) could have broken the cables in his head, but the Spaniard maintains his balance.

Family man, businessman and leader of the Verdiblancos, talks with EL MUNDO about winning the

Desert

A couple of years ago, you said that the three cruciate ligament tears had changed your life as a footballer and as a person.

He had already won a Cup with Madrid at the age of 20, but winning again after a decade, after everything that has happened to him... Has it also changed him? It is not comparable.

You work every day and you strive to win and to enter Europe, but what changes you are the circumstances that happen to you.

It is what helps you grow.

Win help, but it's different.

The injury is individual and you are fighting with yourself.

Here we are a club, a city. Are you, excuse me, fed up with talking about your injuries? I've had times (laughs).

There was a time, after the third, when I was not well, I did not see myself to play and I needed to veto that topic a bit to stop thinking about it.

Now I take it naturally, it is something that has happened to me and it can happen again.

I'm not afraid and I don't care.

Many people have also written to me saying that my way of handling it has helped them.

That's why I want to help from my experience. He opened a rehabilitation center for long-term injuries in Valencia. I approached him because of all the experience I've had with injuries, everything they've taught me as an athlete and as a person.

How a long injury changes your day to day.

The head is very important, the fears that these injuries leave you with, the blockage in case it happens to you again... I have never been afraid again.

I think it could happen to me again and that's it. Is he stronger in the head than physically? Yes, and many times I have given more importance to that than to the physical aspect.

How have you worked? In the third injury (2015) I already knew that it was going to be a very long nine months and I took an Expert course in Sports Coaching.

From there I started having sessions every week with one of the tutors.

Nowadays, this topic is talked about more naturally and not only at the level of injuries, but also about anxiety because things are not working out for you, that you are not playing, that you are in a bad time and perhaps you are not aware... Everything to avoid falling into the well. Have you tried getting on the other side?

To be you the psychologist? I try, in a certain way, to help my classmates at times.

And then in the center that we opened, I chat with those who have long injuries.

I try to give points of view, because I am nobody to tell you to do one thing or another because I have not studied, but I can give you my opinion based on my experience.

Did you get to see yourself with the team in the World Cup in Qatar? Well... Honestly, no. And did it hurt more after the good 2021-22 you had with Betis? Last season I saw myself with options, I saw myself to be in the selection.

They didn't call me up that year and I took it as a challenge, because I was at my level and we won the Cup. I didn't rest in the summer, I extended the season and prepared myself for that.

But this year I'm having a hard time finding my place on the pitch, footballingly.

It is a bit what we talked about before on a psychological level, it is difficult for me to feel comfortable.

It is true that I have had two muscular injuries when I was well, but I do not attribute it to that.

And what has changed?

Because the coach and teammates are the same. I think we have adapted to the circumstances.

We have improved a lot in defense and they score few goals against us, but at the same time we control the game less through possession and it is difficult for us to have the ball.

And there I feel that I am helping much less when it comes to creating.

I'm trying to adapt but it's costing me more than I thought. Do you discuss that with the coach? It's complicated, because there are many games and there's almost no time to work.

We have a way of playing and in that sense this year we have taken a step back in terms of pressure, having the ball and finishing plays faster, and I have to adapt to that.

To participate less and be more decisive.

And I feel more comfortable having more of the ball.

I focus on myself because I have to look at myself... And I have to find my place more.

What does Seville give you? Quality of life (Laughter).

But beyond that,

We have our environment, our friends, my children who are delighted, the club that on a human level is amazing... How do your children handle that their father is known throughout the city? They realize something, but I don't know until What point.

When I go with them to the park and they ask me for photos, or when they go to the stadium... Little by little they understand it, but I don't think they see the full magnitude of soccer. Speaking of your family, does it give you a little How afraid can that 'magnitude' of football affect them?

Now everything is titles and "how good Sergio Canales is". I think that in that sense you have to give him normality, that makes you enjoy things more and value them.

We each have our life and the more you try to hide, the worse.

It is what it is.

The life we ​​have is to be grateful for and I also want you to see the effort that goes into all of this.

That's why I like to take them to watch us train.

No job is easy, this is my turn and I try to teach them values. The economic situation of a footballer of his level is very positive.

How does he manage with his children that they grow up with the possibility of having almost everything?It is something that my wife and I give a lot of importance to.

It is true that we try to get our children to value things and it is very complicated because deep down you want the best for them and the best is not always everything, but we are working on it.

For me the most important thing is that they are good people, that they treat others well and from there that they grow up being themselves. A year ago, footballers like Raúl García criticized the fact that the Super Cup was played in Saudi Arabia.

What do you think? On the one hand, criticizing him while he's here... If he hadn't come, okay, but in the end it's a bit like what happened at the World Cup in Qatar: I'm going to play and criticize him.

If you really don't believe in this, you wouldn't have come.

It is true that you have to be very brave and in that sense maybe I am not so brave.

The worst thing and what saddens me the most is the fans, having the option of winning a title and not being there is a shame, we are going to miss them a lot.

Imagine that you win and you can't celebrate with them... But then, well, there are things in which football opens up, and if I hadn't come to Saudi Arabia I could tell you something, but I'm here and I'm going to play.

I would like to be braver and say 'no', but in the end I am here.

Many times from the outside it is easy to talk, but together we must improve things.

How do you handle the business part of football? I earn my living like this, what am I going to criticize?

If not, I would leave it.

There are things that are very good and others that are more difficult to see and assimilate, but hey, I think it happens in all jobs in the world.

In this sense, I hope that little by little we will improve and see other types of things that are very important.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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• Spain Supercup

• Real Betis Football