“I spent three days playing with her on the beach so I could sign her” | Relief

A small boat, refusal, a persistent woman and natural talent outline Vicky Lopez’s background and rise to the elite. On February 23, in a match against the Netherlands, the Barça player became one of the youngest players (17 years and 212 days) to make his debut for the national team. His football, his innocence and maturity (inappropriate for his age) grabbed all the headlines. “I found out about the call when I was preparing for the exam,” Vicky Lopez admitted a few days ago. Next, a journey to the origins of one of the fashionable football players in world football through its discoverer: Alba Mellado.

Vicky was nine years old when she was noticed by Alba Mellado, then coach of the Madrid FFF youth team. “We started watching because the club did not have a structure from the youngest category. I told Alfredo and others that it would be good to start in a slightly lower category because they only had children. So I told them that the best ones had to start with the youngest ones, like this. They would train for four years and do it well because I think they will succeed. “We planned to take a look at these players, and Vicki was among them.”– recalls Alba Mellado, now playing in the Ultimate Móstoles (League of Queens).

First step: Rayo Vallecano T-shirt

It all started in Vallecas. Vicky played as a central defender in the children’s team. “They told me they put her there because she got away from the ball and so on,” Alba details. That weekend, the former national youth team player and former FFF Madrid football player was tired of watching football: “She was a typical player who stood out among the children, and I decided to tell her my plan: to create the youngest player to play in the Valdebebas league.”. However, Vicky told him no. “Her grandmother told me that she was the one who brought her and that she needed to talk to her parents about it. I called her and they told me no, that the girl wanted to stay with the children who were her friends. It was completely understandable,” Alba admits.

It all started in Vallecas… and continued in Benidorm. By coincidence, Alba went on holiday to the Costa Blanca and met Vicky “on the same days and in the same place.” “We went down to the beach and saw a dark-haired girl. And I said, “I think she looks like her, she’s Vicky, and Paola told me what she would be like?” Come on, there are no days or months of summer here, and the Benidorm beach is full of people, what will it be like?Alba remembers.

In the following days this scene was repeated again. Until the one who was going to become his coach and, given what he saw, his discoverer, took a step forward. “She always looked at us because we also played football, and whenever you see girls like that, especially those who look like athletes like you, it attracts your attention even more,” he elaborates. And he resorted to a ploy to permanently attract the attention of the now Barça player: a T-shirt. “Then I thought: I’m going to come down in my football jersey and see if he looks at me the same way. Well I came down with Rayo’s shirt And he just came up to me and said: “Did you play for Rayo?” And I said, “Isn’t your name Vicky?” And her eyes opened,” Alba admits with a laugh.

Small boats and their brothers

Vicki and Alba started talking and Alba told her that they had talked to her grandmother and her parents at the time, but they said no. A refusal that will be repeated in Benidorm after Alba talks to them and her uncles again.

Not giving up, the former CFF Madrid coach asked them how many days they planned to stay in Benidorm. “They told me three or four more. I went to a Chinese store to buy one of these toy boats and a couple of other things. I wanted him to see that besides football, he was going to have a good time with me.” I spent all those days playing with his two brothers and cousin in the waves, riding on a small boat. “What if the waves washed us ashore, what if…” Alba remembers, smiling on the other end of the phone.

When the holidays ended, Vicky Lopez’s father called Alba Mellado. After several “no’s” followed by “yes”. “She told me that the girl had a great time and that she should come to Madrid CFF,” says Alba, very happy. In the following years, Alba and Vicky built a great friendship that continues to this day. “I write to her many times. How the game went, how she felt, and so on. Recently I congratulated her on going with a Spanish woman. The truth is that the little girl is impressive not only as a soccer player, but also as a person. It always reminds me of the truth,” its discoverer says proudly.

“She has always been very supportive of me. Ever since my father died, she has been writing to me and asking how I am doing. She doesn’t look like the nine year old girl I once signed up for. nothing, every time she achieves something, it brings tears to my eyes because of what we have been through for many years,” he adds.

These semi-finals against Barça…

I didn’t know it, but Vicky Lopez signed with a “great team.” “They were all girls who stood out on the boys’ teams. But it’s true that she and Cristina (Libran) attracted the most attention. Moreover, from the first minute they understood each other perfectly. “I said, ‘Oh my God, what a great team we have,’” Alba recalls.

For her coach – by the way, one of the most talented players to wear the Madrid CFF jersey – what attracted her attention most about Vicky Lopez was “her speed”, her “athletic body” and this “Very few kids had that kind of speed at his age.”. Among all the moments that they both experienced, one of them stood out to Alba in particular: the international tournament in Alcobendas… in the U-16 category.

At that moment, Alba chose her and Sandra Villafañe. The first of them is 12 years old, and the second is 13. Four and three years younger than the oldest football players in the tournament. “Many people told me how I was going to put them in, so small… In the end, it was a very competitive tournament, there were City, Barca. I told them that they were ready, that they were up to the task and that I believed they would do very well. And I would do it again,” Alba reflects. In that tournament, Vicky gave Madrid FFF a place in the final with a great goal. Precisely against Barça. In addition, she was named the best player of the tournament.

Now Alba Mellado looks back and is excited. But she’s not surprised, she already knew Vicki Lopez was going to go far. “Of course, I expected it. Since I was a child, because of the way I understood football, how I understood every training session the first time,” Alba replies about whether the progress took her by surprise. “I knew this was the gift they were giving you. “I think like with everything there are times when you say you have to get lucky in football, but I think it’s the job they’ve done in terms of work and effort and no one will blame it.” – he said. He concludes.