Camp Nou. Auditorium 1899. People. Tshirts. And also the 10 cups that Bojan Krkic won with FC Barcelona. It was at the Blaugrana stadium where it all began for the Linyola striker. And where it all ends. Surrounded by his relatives, talking with the journalist Albert Om and answering all the questions from the media, the footballer closed the circle in what he considers his home.
“At 32 years old, after a lot of learning and with great pride, I want to say that I am leaving professional football. Life is stages. You have to be honest with yourself and I felt that the time had come to retire,” explained the Linyola striker. . The ex-Blaugrana Gerard Piqué and also the president Joan Laporta listened to him in the front row. “I would like to thank Laporta and the club for letting me say goodbye at home. We started this journey together and I am very grateful to him for everything. We have always had a special connection. And to Gerard, tell him that I love him very much and that I thank him for being here. here”, said Bojan. “Congratulations on your career. Your commitment is impeccable. The surname Krkic with your father and with you leave their mark on FC Barcelona”, pointed out the president Joan Laporta.
The striker, trained in the lower categories of FC Barcelona, ??broke various records for precociousness, scoring more than 800 goals at La Masia and always in categories above those that corresponded to him by age. Led by Frank Rijkaard, he made it to the first team in 2007. “He is the coach who has marked me the most of all because he bet on me and gave me the opportunity to take off,” he confessed. Until 2011, he won 10 titles with the Barcelona jersey, the club of his life. He scored 41 goals. “That boy was very innocent and very sensitive and over the years, even though he’s still sensitive, the experience has helped me grow.”
On October 21, 2007, at the age of 17, Bojan became the youngest player in the history of Barcelona (17 years and 51 days) to score with the first team in the League, against Villarreal, beating Leo Messi early. A goal that the footballer has engraved in his memory. “Of course I remember. But being so young and wearing the Barcelona shield is hard. I would tell young people not to be in a hurry but to be brave and fight to fulfill their dreams,” he added with a smile.
A month later, on November 24, 2007, he scored his first goal at the Camp Nou against Recreativo de Huelva. “It was one of the most special moments,” he stressed. And in March 2011, at the age of 20 years and 202 days, he played the 100th game with the cule shirt, being the youngest Barça player to reach that figure. “Stats have never been important to me. I stick to how we get things done.”
However, due to the pressure he was subjected to, in 2007 he began to suffer from anxiety attacks, as the footballer himself published in his autobiography. Said problems even led him to give up going with the Spanish team led by Luis Aragonés in 2008. “I think that a lot of progress has been made so that the players learn to manage the pressure. It is a very important part for the footballer to have performance, you have to know how you are, not all of us are the same and it is important that the players feel good”, he stressed.
On August 14 of that same year, the new coach Vicente Del Bosque called him up again for a friendly against Denmark, but this time he stayed on the bench and did not make his debut either. “I keep what I have done and what it has cost me. I want to thank my family for their support. To my father who came here and my mother who left her position as a nurse to be with me, so that I could grow as a person and as a footballer,” he added.
The tough competition that was in the offensive line of the Camp Nou led him to want a change of scenery. And in the summer of 2011, Luis Enrique took him to AS Roma for 12 million euros. He has also worn the jerseys of Milan, Ajax Amsterdam, Stoke City, Mainz, Stoke City, Alavés and Montreal. In 2017, the international became the first Spaniard to score in the major European leagues: LaLiga, Serie A, Premier League and Bundesliga. “I’ve learned to overcome obstacles. It was hard for me to come here from Linyola and leaving Barça was also very hard. Seeing the thanks for everything sign at the Camp Nou was like a stab. But I’m grateful for having learned so much football from so many different countries”.
The shirts that he wore during these 12 years accompanied him. Bibs? many. 28,14,22,11,27,10 15, 9 for the Spanish team and 10 for the Catalan team. Will there be a last dance? “Yes, with the Catalan team at the end of June. It will be a match for people who have not been able to be with me because of the distance in these 12 years to accompany me,” Bojan explained. The Catalan coach, Gerard López, who did not want to miss the appointment, also smiled among the guests.
His last team has been Vissel Kobe, in Japan, where he has played the last two seasons coinciding with Andrés Iniesta. The Linyola attacker had been without a team since February. “I feel very proud of my career. I don’t feel that I have any dreams left to fulfill,” he explained.
And now that? “In recent years I have been training. Today I want to be part of a club in the human, management part. How we live things. Help with my experience”. How coach? “We’ll see, first you have to start,” he said. And in Barcelona? “The feeling I have for this club is very deep. It’s family, it’s the place where I grew up. Working here would make me happy,” he launched. “Barça is your home and it will continue to be. As president of Barcelona, ??I thank you for everything you have given us. And I tell you see you soon because I believe that in this new era, Barça must have people like you” .
The act ended with one last surprise that moved Bojan. The Auditorium screened a video with messages of thanks and from athletes such as Andrés Iniesta, Gerard Piqué, Patrick Kluivert, Thierry Henry, Sergi Samper, David de Gea, Rafa Nadal, Muniain, Marc and Álex Márquez, David Villa or Nacho Fernandez and coaches like Fran Sánchez or Frank de Boer and Xavi Hernández. “The footballer leaves but the person stays,” the coach told him. And Bojan smiled.
