Víctor Valdés, the goalkeeper who hated the goal
The relationship of Víctor Valdés with football is that of a dramatic story. A trajectory that has nothing to envy to the soap operas, with tall, unexpected twists and turns. Valdés starts out playing football like most kids., on the street. There, in order to spend more time with his older brother, began to occupy the position of goalkeeper.
A hobby in the form of a sketch that soon became a work of art. The young man from Hospitalet de Llobregat showed his quality on the sidewalks until he became part of the team from his hometown. His dexterity with his hands and his skill with his feet were enough for, in just a few months, the lower categories of Barcelona began to notice him.
Víctor Valdés, the goalkeeper who didn't want to be a goalkeeper
But like any good soap opera, there was a problem: I hated being a goalkeeper. Still raised in the quarry of FC Barcelona, where he stood out as one of the best goalkeepers at La Masía, Victor was not happy. "Playing goalkeeper every weekend has been a constant suffering... something I don't like to do and I don't understand why I do it if I don't like it", recognized the player during an interview he conducted Marlon Becerra.
Despite your doubts, Victor Valdés continue playing football and with 20 years has the opportunity of a lifetime. during the season 2002/2003 is called by the first team and, in just a few days, manages to get the goal. A starting position that after several mistakes ends up losing due to the lack of confidence he showed in him Louis van Gaal, which ends up betting on Roberto Bonano. Valdés ends up relegated to the subsidiary again. A decision you don't seem to like, since he is absent from training with Barça B. Something that ends up regretting and apologizing.
With the dismissal of the Netherlands, the goalkeeper reconquers the goal, even surpassing the arrival of Rustu Recber. A maturation based on great stops that led him to become the 'Panther of Hospitalet'. Good blocking and deflection technique, good footwork, good ability to anticipate any type of play... He had it all.
And so it proved at the final in Paris 2006, where he put on a masterful performance and knew how to keep the azulgrana team alive until they became European champions. A game that would, definitely, are consolidation in the golden stage of FC Barcelona and that would position him as one of the best goalkeepers in the history of the club.. "Thanks to how it happened, to what happened that day, my career went up, ensures the player.
The career of one of the best goalkeepers of his generation
His list of titles is impressive: 3 Champions, 6 Suspenders, 3 King's Cups, 2 overall record, 6 Spanish Super Cups and 3 Club World Cups. To which must be added 5 Zamora trophies as goalkeeper with the fewest goals scored in Spain. But undoubtedly his moment of glory would come in the World Cup in South Africa 2010. Víctor debuts as an absolute international on 3 June of the same year. does it in the Tivoli Snow of Innsbruck, Austria, in a warm-up match between the teams of South Korea and Spain. Meeting in which he shines and convinces Vicente del Bosque, that he 20 of May summons him to represent Spain.
During the World Cup match, Valdés lives in the shadow of Casillas, but he doesn't seem to care too much, and it is that in the end few can boast of win a World Cup and a European Championship.
The injury that cut short the career of Víctor Valdés
It was the highest point of Barcelona and Víctor Valdés under sticks, but in 2014 the one of The hospital seems to want to put an end to it and go in style. He decides not to renew and signs a pre-contract with Monaco for the next transfer market without knowing what fate had in store for him.
The 26 March 2014 will always be marked in the life of the former Barcelona goalkeeper by a knee ligament injury that would give his life a turn of 360 degrees. the minute ran 20 of a match between the Catalans and Celta de Vigo. The referee had decreed a maximum sentence after awarding a penalty in favor of the Galicians, but nevertheless, Victor, at that time captain of Barcelona, requested a review that ended up being granted and that ruled a fault.
Something you'd end up regretting. Orellana launched a free kick directly into the hands of Valdés. A ball that first escaped the goalkeeper, but that he managed to catch after a fight in which he stepped on the wrong foot and his knee said enough. “My life changed there., because in that foul that the Celta player throws, I get injured, And if it had been a penalty, surely I would not have been injured ".
That's when your particular roller coaster begins the drop zone. That same year, Valdes, who aimed to be the undisputed starter of the National Team above Casillas, he misses the Brazil World Cup for not being at 100% recovered. Bad luck for the 'Panther of Hospitalet'’ that seemed to spread and that injury also ends up frustrating his signing for Monaco, that breaks the pre-agreement with the goalkeeper and leaves Valdés without a team while he tries to recover.
It seemed that this would be the end of a mythical goalkeeper in our country. The bitter end for every elite athlete. But Manchester United arrived, team that gave him a reason for hope and that allowed him to iron out the rough edges with Louis Van Gaal, who was at that time in charge of the English club.
From there he would leave on loan to Stardard de Liège, until in 2016 would move to Middlesbrough, where he would put an end to his career as a player on 7 of July of that same year by not renewing with the English team. And after half a year without a team, made the decision to retire from professional football and disappear, just as promised, letting go of fame, with which he felt so little identified, and the goal, that had him enslaved throughout his life as a footballer.
But not so to disconnect from football since he later trained and began his career as a coach in youth football, training among others, to the Division of Honor of Barça. A soccer man with the flag competition.
