Lucas Sáez-BravoSpecial envoy Zaragoza
Special envoy Zaragoza
Updated Wednesday, February 21, 2024-23:43
Last week
Carlos Alocén
(Zaragoza, 2000) returned for the first time to Martín Carpena in Málaga, to the
damned
place that stopped the career of one of Spain's most promising point guards in its tracks almost two years ago.
The joy of winning his first Copa del Rey (although he did not participate on the court) partly erased the ghosts of an action, a random penetration, defended by
Alberto Díaz
, with which he martyred himself for "weeks."
«Especially at the beginning I thought about the play a lot.
I watched the video, I paid attention to the details, how I supported my knee.
The hardest moments were just after surgery, that's when the head works the most and in many ways for the worse.
As time passes you try to relativize, you work, you try to recover... Now all that is more and more past, he celebrates in conversation with EL MUNDO at the doors of another joy, of another Rubicon crossed.
The Real Madrid player returns with the Spanish team and it will be "special", because this Thursday (8:00 p.m., Teledeporte), against Latvia, he plays in his native Zaragoza.
To know more
ACB.
Almost two years and an ordeal later, Carlos Alocén returns to play for Real Madrid
Editor: LUCAS SÁEZ-BRAVO Madrid
Almost two years and an ordeal later, Carlos Alocén returns to play for Real Madrid
To know more
Basketball.
Scariolo calls Ricky Rubio: "He told me that he would like his first official match to be with the national team"
Editor: LUCAS SÁEZ-BRAVO Madrid
Scariolo calls Ricky Rubio: "He told me that he would like his first official match to be with the national team"
He sat out 651 games after tearing the cruciate ligament in his left knee.
He returned last November.
How is she now? Very good, honestly.
Every day, every training session, every game, with a little more confidence.
I don't know if like before.
After so much time, I am different from the Alocén of two years ago.
I have worked on many things.
Of course I'm still that happy player from before, that's not going to change, because I've always loved basketball, playing and having fun.
I would say that I am at 100%, but my 100% will change as the days and games go by and it will be better.
I'm trying to reach that better version that I think will come with time. He says that the injury has made him different, in what? Not only as a player or in facets of the game, that too.
I am different as a person.
They change things about basketball or even professionals in terms of the sport that I didn't see before or didn't give as much importance to.
Injury and time make you realize things.
And then I am different in terms of maturity, mentality, in terms of taking things with perspective and giving importance to what is really important. The hardest thing was the relapses. Without a doubt, it was the worst.
You make a plan in your head, more or less how the injury is going to go, how the recovery is going to be.
But you talk to the physios and doctors and you see that you are not meeting the deadlines... I had to stop, take a step back.
It's tough mentally and difficult to deal with.
You spin your head, you think many things, you ask yourself more questions than normal.
You want to feel good, keep moving forward and you see that the body is not with you.
I have taken all of that as help.
Finally, I am happy with how I have handled it, with how I have matured. Why was the injury complicated? We know the causes.
After a crossover operation there are some factors that you cannot control, that escape you.
When it seemed to be going well, the knee began to swell.
I didn't feel good, it bothered me.
I didn't have the confidence to step on it, to be on the track.
After training so much, after being 100% there every day, you see that you are not moving forward, that you are stagnant and you say 'what is happening here?'.
But with work, with patience and with the help of many people we have made it happen.
And now I have very good feelings.
Carlos Alocén.ALBERTO NEVADOFEB
Did you ever think about throwing in the towel? No, never that.
I have the factor that I am young.
I hope I have many years left to live in basketball.
Yes, there were tough moments mentally, but in all this time it never occurred to me to throw in the towel.
I feel physically and mentally strong, prepared for what is coming.
And happy to be back on the courts. What or who did he rely on during those mentally tough moments? He tried to distract me with other things outside of basketball, to help me stop thinking about it.
With my Marketing studies, for example.
I really like watching basketball, but during the injury it was difficult for me.
You think you want to be there and you can't.
What supported me the most was being with my family, with my friends, it was the moment of disconnection.
They are people who are always there. Having Ricky Rubio
back and close
, who is also a point guard, who also had serious knee injuries, who was also a precocious talent... It is a joy for everyone.
He looks great, content and happy, and on the track the same as always.
I met him in preparation for the Tokyo Olympic Games, the summer of 2021. Beyond the things he does on the track, what we have seen from him for so many years, he is a very close, very nice guy.
A leader.
He has also had bad times due to injuries.
He is a mentally strong guy, very tough.
For me, sharing the court with him, defending each other, is lucky.
When I was little I looked at him as a fan, as an idol and now I have him in front of me, I see those things up close and I can learn. In the middle of the injury, Real Madrid offered him one more year of contract. It made me very happy.
We all knew, from the doctors, that he was not going to be there from the beginning of the season.
I have been rejoining and time, for better or worse, puts everyone in their place.
Now I am very focused.
We'll see how my game and my confidence go, but I'm very happy to feel like a player again.