“His jokes are not jokes; in the freezer you find clothes cut with scissors, sneakers…” | Relief

Damian Suarez will face Real Madrid tonight (21:00, Movistar Plus+) as one of the greatest and best representatives of Bordalas’ Getafe, one of the fashionable teams in La Liga that welcomes the whites with a clear sense of “ability to win”. It will be 19 This is Zorro’s confrontation against the whites, but those who really know him emphasize that he treats it with particular enthusiasm. Firstly, because the contract ends on June 30 and you never know when the last one may arrive; secondly, because from the locker room they are so optimistic that they see themselves as capable of anything and they are already beginning to look at Europe without complexes. A victory over Ancelotti’s team would be almost a decisive step.

The Uruguayan has been a key figure in the Coliseum stand for some time now, although his relationship with the coach has paid off at times over the years and he has been benched more often than usual this season in favor of Juan. Iglesias. Damian, as his former teammates say, is filled with pure feelings: guilt when the Getae descended to the Second Stage, happiness when they carried their flag across Europe. Little remains of the shy boy who landed in Gijon in 2011 and endured occasional fights with Manolo Preciado for the sins of his youth, but his spirit is still hidden. Against the background of the image Bad guy and a cool football player who stands out, from the inside they put their pranks first and its simplicity.

Roasts and more with Trejo, Preciado and their “fit” version

Damian arrived in Spain when he was 23 years old. Sporting’s bet was to strengthen the right-back and compete with Alberto Lora, who remembers his “introverted” nature at the start of the game and his often overlooked strengths. “South Americans always have a little trouble adapting, but it didn’t take him long. He got along well with Oscar Trejo and Gaston Sanga, they organized barbecues.” I loved him from the very beginning because of his hitting of the ball. He was cruel, his best virtue. I saw him training and I was amazed,” he tells Relevo. Zorro had just won the Uruguayan championship with Defensor Sporting and played for the national team in the youth categories.

Although he initially spent several days without playing, the storm in the dressing room with which he himself collaborated ended after a few weeks, opening the doors of the eleven for him. After a 5:1 score in Anoeta, Damian, Trejo and Alejandro Galvez lost. hunted night in San Sebastian and incurred the wrath of Preciado and the fans. “We had a very bad dynamic, they beat us, and people, rightly so, felt bad. These are things that happen in a footballer’s life and which undoubtedly help him learn for the future. Two days later they sacked Manolo Preciado, Clemente came in and moved me to midfield… and that’s when Damian established himself as a right-back,” recalls Laura.

Intensity had already become his main “calling card” (“he was bold, tough and very heavy”), but from the very beginning he stood out for his offensive virtues: “We split the position and I paid a lot of attention to how easy it was to clear the ball. Others receive the ball and try to move it out of the way, but he doesn’t; I’ve always wanted to unite.” Ferran Corominas, who spent the next three years with Damian at Elche (2012-2015), moves on.

“Edu Albacar and I always told him that he was a footballer who would play for a big team, for Barça or Real Madrid. We saw him in very good condition and with a shiny leg. Actually, I can say that this is the team with the best ball serve that I have ever played with. throughout my career“, he assures. To move to Martinez Valero, Damian took a step back (he played 19 matches for Sporting in the First Division and dropped to the Second Division), but it helped him gain momentum and reach his full potential. The first campaign is over promotion. The next two, with two quiet stays. Despite everything, Koro regrets another aspect that delayed the emergence of a better Damian: the lack of maximum physical care.

“With Bordalas he changed: he became better, more beautiful. I think they put him on a stricter diet and he lost a few pounds and gained more fiber. He had a good game in Elche, but he could have improved it if he had changed in this aspect earlier.” There, as the legend Periki saw, lay his main room for improvement: “I believe Bordalas would have given him an ultimatum and told him: “Either you bet like this, or you don’t play. The situation has improved significantly.” Laura confirms this: “He came very young from football, which has nothing in common with European football. At Getafe he acquired the level of professionalism that the elite demand. “Now it flies like a plane.”

Both, however, were convinced that they had a diamond in front of them that needed polishing, as Ferrand explains: “He got to the baseline and made some crazy crosses, he stood out in strategy… He is very solid and smart; he makes up for what he lacks in growth with placement intelligence. WithWhen the ball comes from above, it hits you before you can jump. He has always been a player of interaction and contact. When the ball was wide, he hit and talked to the striker to take him out of the game a little.. “You don’t like dating him at all, but you want him on your team.”

Idol in the Colosseum and legend in the vacils

Damian left Elche in 2015 due to differences with his coach Fran Escriba. “At the end of the third season, the problem with the five captains arose., among whom I was. The misunderstanding with the coach lasted a whole month; Later it was clear that it was not our fault, that we were always with the team. We both left, and then the club was administratively relegated to the lower league,” recalls Coro. Although Victor Orta offered the Uruguayan a contract extension (with a salary increase of 100 thousand euros gross per season), Damian chose to leave for Getafe for free… to face Escriba again, with the wound already closed and after the coach asked him to sign.

That first campaign, 15-16, ended in brutal relegation, which greatly affected the team. “I arrived in the second division the following year. Damian has endured a difficult and challenging year on an individual level. Relegation always causes injury and puts every player’s future in doubt. When you don’t know him, you can be prejudiced by seeing him on the field, but what caught my attention was the moment of personal suffering he went through. in those last months,” says former goalkeeper Alberto Garcia.

“I always jokingly tell him that he never thanked me for how I picked him up and how he showed up later. I especially remember the defeat to Vallecas at the beginning of that campaign in the second division, it was very difficult for us. When I later saw him with Getafe in Europe and playing for his country on the national team, what that meant to him… I’m very happy,” he says. Again, another clearly negative thing, e.g. bordering the relegation zone of the Second B. It was a turning point in Damian’s career: Angel Torres fired Esnaider, signed a contract with Bordalas… and the rest, including promotions, is history.

“I had very few teammates who could get inside and make plays and find inside players. When you see how he defines himself and suffers from it in limited football, you understand his talent and that his strengths are his moments on the ball. He suffers more defensively, contrary to what one might think.“, analyzes Alberto, who reveals the most unknown facet of the Uruguayan in the dressing room.

“He has the ability to make people laugh that people ignore. He always says that I was a very serious player and that for a year he could not involve me in jokes.” But, of course, no joke… You could come to training well dressed, in clothes that you attached great importance to, and when you left training, these clothes no longer existed: They cut it with scissors, they found sneakers in the freezer… In the first days it really shocked me.Later, the goalkeeper entered into the same spiral: “Damian has a great friendship with Trejo. When I arrived in Rayo and met him, we all started gathering outside the field. Oscar’s jokes followed a similar path. “You were going to eat with them and you knew you weren’t going to come home with the same clothes you were wearing.”

“They have a motto: if you don’t join in on their jokes, it’s okay, they’ll never do them to you, but if you decide to do one without thinking about whether it’s harder or less… you’re already in the movie. I made a mistake by getting into one, and could not leave the sect,” he admits with a laugh. This is the flip side of the “noble” and especially “self-critical” defender: “He doesn’t hide. He has a lot of personality and before he looks left or right, he looks at himself. I saw their silence. When you are silent, you value yourself. “He doesn’t look for someone to blame when things don’t work out.”

His most controversial side, involving actions outside the rules, is left unaddressed. “Dami This is a prime example of what happens on the playing field, stays there. When he leaves the grass, not even reaching the locker room, he looks for an understanding look with you. to let you know that what happened on the inside does not reflect how you may feel about the person on the outside. He also received hits and tackles, but I never saw him reproach. He understands football and defensive situations based on individual combat. And he always plays and trains at the highest level, no matter what his body gives him.“He praises.

Testimony from his former teammates provides insight into the controversial figure’s background and that tonight, having served a two-game ban for ejection at the Metropolitano, he will await Vinicius, Rodrygo, Bellingham and company with a knife between his teeth. This is his only way to feel the competition and continue to cling to the elite: “It wasn’t an easy path for him. It was difficult for him to support himself; he is defined by the spirit of survival. And he always repeats a phrase that characterizes him and this is fundamental: dThe level of daily attitude usually indicates success.“.