The interview went around the world. At that time, Victor Valdes was a goalkeeper for Manchester United, although it was clear that his life was no longer in the goal. Over two years after that emotional conversation with prestigious Colombian presenter Marlon Becerra on RCN network, the Spanish goalkeeper put an end to his football career, and it is worth remembering that harsh testimony in which he questioned the unreal life that footballers lead.
It all started on March 26, 2014, Barcelona was beating Celta when a free kick, which did not pose much danger, marked a before and after in Valdes' career: he injured his knee and since then his life took a total turn.
"Would I change anything? Yes, I would change the day I got injured, playing at home against Celta. The damn play started with the referee calling a penalty. As captain, I pressured him, he consulted with the assistant referee and in the end he called a free kick. And it was in that foul that my life changed because I got injured. If it had been a penalty, I probably wouldn't have gotten injured. I would change the fact that on that day I wasn't the captain, because without the armband I probably wouldn't have gone to ask for it to be taken out of the area. I will never forget it," he confessed in that interview with Marlon Becerra.
The main lesson from the injury
But it was precisely moving away from football fields that allowed Valdes one of the greatest lessons of his life, as he himself pointed out.
"I'm going to leave aside the people who leave you alone, I'm going to leave aside that the football world makes you feel disabled... but I'm going to explain a lesson that, thank God, I lived: the injury made me feel again what life is like not being a footballer. I went to Germany to recover, it was difficult, but I was going to achieve it no matter what happened. Footballers lead an unreal life. Fortunately, I returned to the real world, to pay for a coffee, to touch coins... and that dose of humility has served me now that I have returned to professional football. I come from three months in Augsburg, buying my tram ticket, going with crutches, being alone. No one will take that away from me," the former goalkeeper recounted in that conversation for RCN.
He was never the same
Valdes, at that time, played for Old Trafford, but Louis Van Gaal, the coach at the time, sent him to play with the U21 team. The Spanish player would later go through Standard de Liege and Middlesbrough, but he could not be the same as during his time with Barcelona when he won everything.
Spanish international on 20 occasions, Valdes was part of the team that won the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Euro Cup, although always as a substitute for Iker Casillas.
It was with Barcelona that he achieved his greatest successes, including three Champions League titles (2006, 2009, and 2011), six La Liga titles (2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013), two Copa del Rey titles (2009 and 2012), and two Club World Cup titles (2009 and 2011).