You need a lot of balls to play futsal
Anonymous
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A year and a half ago, lying on the couch, his right knee broken again, damn it, there were already four serious injuries, Sergio Lozano (35) said to himself:
–The time has come to tell it.
And he called Llorenç Tarrés.
Llorenç Tarrés is many things, all good (at least, as far as I know).
He is a magnificent journalist and a magnificent futsal player. And I can attest to the latter: I suffered it a few years ago, when we faced each other in the media league. So, he played in Avui.
(He was also a gentleman: he never laughed at me, not even when he threw the umpteenth pipe at me.)
Llorenç Tarrés is also a good friend of Sergio Lozano. And like a good friend, Lozano took advantage of friendship. In his sleeplessness over his misfortune, he said to his friend Tarrés:
–Help me make my book.
And that’s it.
From there there were meetings, late-night talks, WhatsApp messages, readings and re-readings. And so we are now: Sergio Lozano’s biography is bubbling in the oven, ready to appear on the scene. It will bloom in April, on Sant Jordi.
“Goals and scars,” it is called.
It is edited by Planeta.
(…)
We are in the silence of the Palau Blaugrana, this Thursday afternoon.
Nobody trains on the hardwood, nobody competes, and Sergio Lozano sits next to me in the stands, and asks me:
-What do you want me to tell you?
I ask him to talk about his book, how good that would be for Umbral.
The volume is low, there is no need to shout. We talk in the silence that anticipates the storm. This Saturday, at 4:15 p.m., 4,000 throats will chant the name of Sergio Lozano, the buffalo, the captain who returns to that Palau that idolizes him (in the medium term, who knows what will become of his shirt, perhaps they will retire his number 9), A year and a half after that day when he broke his right knee, damn it, there were already four serious injuries.
(With Barça, six national leagues and four Champions League titles contemplate the buffalo; with Spain, a European gold and a world silver).
–I have three cruciate operations and a patella dislocation. When I was injured the third time, it was from a gunshot. I shot at the door and my foot failed. After that third operation, in 2021, I thought I would quit. He had spent two years enduring a lot of pain, he was despondent. There I started to write what I felt. At any time, he would take notes on his phone or send me audios. Then I left the story on standby. After the fourth injury, I decided to tell it.
–And why did he do it?
–It was therapeutic. I have cried, I have been angry and I have been frustrated. I know these things happen to all of us, so anyone who reads the book will identify with my story. I opened my mouth. There I talk about the loss of my father, who died five years ago. His name was Jose.
–And what do you say about your father?
–His influence on me was decisive. But it was a positive influence, you know?
–What do you mean?
–My father was a transporter, and also a futsal goalkeeper. He played in 2nd B, in Alcalá de Henares, and I went to see him play and I loved it. He also trained me when I was a youth. He would leave at night, work twelve hours, come back and take me to train. And he never pressured me. He just asked me to try my best.
–Why did you choose futsal?
–There was a time when Rayo Vallecano wanted me. He was ten years old. He was a fry. I tried. I never felt it was my place.
-Because?
–I had a better time playing indoor soccer. And that’s what you should do. You shouldn’t go to the money. When my friends ask me, I tell them that here you touch the ball more, you enjoy the game more. Why do you have to go to football? I tell many parents: ‘Don’t try to fulfill your dream through your child. Your son will never be Messi. I don’t know if he would have become a professional soccer player. I only know that, in this world, I am a privileged among the privileged.
(In closing, he tells me that he has been visualizing this Saturday’s scene for months: he sees himself advancing through the tunnel, emerging in a Palau full of energy).
