There are few dates left until the first round of LaLiga ends and one of the great surprises that we have encountered is the great campaign that Rayo Vallecano is carrying out, who is fighting to enter the European competitions for the 2022/23 season. Although it was believed that they would fight in the last places due to their recent promotion to the First Division, the Madrid team exceeded expectations.
In an exclusive interview for 90min, we spoke with Oscar Trejo, one of the great references that rayistas have. The offensive midfielder is playing his seventh season at the club and is the player with the highest number of appearances in the history of the institution. We talked about the present of the team, the arrival of Falcao, why the French league could cost Messi and the dream of playing in the Argentine team.
Did you imagine a few months ago to be fighting for the top positions in LaLiga?
They all gave us like we were going to fight the descent and suffering. Obviously with the year that we have done and moving up the way we did it, I was leading that way. It is true that we have lost the first two games, but from the third the team began to give good feelings and we have become strong at home, which in Second was difficult for us.
How are they going according to the objectives that were imposed for this season?
The year is very long and those of us who know the club go every semester; in the first round we are fine. There are games missing before the Christmas break, we started the year playing against Atlético de Madrid and there the first round would end.
In this first stage we plan to be close to 25 or 30 points and we have 24. We know that to save ourselves and be in First it is between 36 or 40 points, so we are doing a large part of the work. We are a humble team, but the work and commitment of all colleagues is to applaud.
They recently beat Barcelona 1-0 at home with a goal from Radamel Falcao. I imagine his arrival was great news for you …
It was the icing on the cake. We knew that there was an opportunity to come and that the situation that was happening in Turkey was not good. He made efforts to come and in the last hours of the market it was possible to materialize. His arrival, not only to the team, but also to the institution, brought a plus in image and in every sense. He is still a spectacular player, with a hierarchy and experience due to the career he is doing.
What is different about Radamel Falcao from the rest of the forwards?
In an interview for 90min, @ oscar8trejo, footballer of the @Vallecano Ray, indicated that the greater physical power that Ligue 1 has, compared to LaLiga, is one of the factors that may be costing Leo Messi the most in his adaptation to PSG.
? ️@diegoyudcovsky pic.twitter.com/L2seocuc85
– 90min ES (@ 90minEspanol) December 3, 2021
One who sees him train, it is incredible how cold he is or when he enters his comfort zone, which is the large area. He has studied everything, the movements, how the centrals are going to come out, the position he’s in, how he’s going to finish. So, one who arrives in the area and has to think a thousand things, he has already been analyzing it all his life. The big difference that he has compared to the rest of the forwards is that. What’s more, the jump, the pitch that he has, defines with both legs. The truth is that he is a scorer in every way.
“Falcao has studied everything in the area. That is his great difference with respect to the rest of the forwards.”
– Oscar Trejo.
Against Barcelona you assist him and you said “take it and do it” …
Luckily we were talking. When a player comes to the club, you try to explain how we play, he too has an incredible commitment to everyone from day one. Depending on the team we play against, we always talk, what movements he likes to do, how he likes to break behind the backs of the centrals. We knew that we were going to have a chance against Barcelona because, after all, the whole game suffers, because they have possession. Thank God we have it for Radamel that what he has done is not easy either, because he had to hook Pique and define a corner with his left.
The Argentine arrived at Rayo Vallecano for the first time in the 2010/11 season, when he was loaned out by Mallorca to play in the Second Division. Once promoted, he joined Sporting de Gijón until 2013. In Toulouse in France he played between 2014 and 2017, at which point he resumed his way to Madrid to wear the Rayo shirt again. In total, he achieved three promotions at the club: 2010/11, 2017/18 and 2020/21 and is the captain of the squad.
Do you consider yourself an idol of Rayo Vallecano?
No, here we always say that they are players who have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time. People do not have idols, we are people who love the club a lot because it has been many years. It is such a humble club, so hard-working, that all they want is for you to defend the shirt.
A few days ago in an interview with another medium, you said that there were things from the institutional perspective that you didn’t like. What things should the club improve?
Many things, like taking care of the quarry. Because in the end, a humble club that wants to do things well, the heart must be the lower ones. Train the boys well, take care of them, give them a good structure, objectives. We have the infrastructure well because the sports city is ours. Then there are many problems with the female, which is an issue that will not end, because she is a professional to whom they do not feel trained, nor do they have the tools and instruments to work well on a daily basis.
We too, who in the end all have membership cards except us. It is almost half the championship and the families have to be located by different sectors in the rostrum. They have improved things, but obviously if the club is in the First Division, it has to be in every way, and if it does not come to that, try to improve day by day and put suitable people who can help you. It is one of the four, five greats in the capital of Spain, which is losing weight due to mismanagement.
Is it hard to fight in a league where Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid and Barcelona are in?
Yes, financially you don’t fight with the same intensity. We play a different championship from those teams, because in the end they plan to play the Champions League, become champions, win the King’s Cup; And we at the end of the day, our goal is that on May 20 we can say that the goal is accomplished because next year Rayo is in the First Division.
Trejo began his career at Boca Juniors, where he made his debut on July 3, 2005 against Almagro. That same game he scored his first goal in the First Division. Without so much filming in the team that was directed by Alfio Basile and later by Ricardo La Volpe, he took the suitcases and left for Europe to sign for Mallorca at the end of 2006.
You had to leave as a young man from Boca, without playing many games. Do you think you can go back to Argentina or has that moment passed?
I think the moment has passed. In 2017, when I left Toulouse, the first option was Argentina and I wanted to see if an offer would come up, because we needed to be close to family. There were conversations but something was always missing. At the same time I sat down to talk to the people of the Lightning and they did not even hesitate. I have three children and I am waiting for the fourth, today we are in the best place, enjoying the growth of the boys.
You played for Toulouse in France for several years and seeing that Messi is having a hard time adapting, is the League 1 what LaLiga?
Yes, it has taken me almost a year due to the fact that, obviously, the technical player stands out a lot because the French like that, but physically they are twice or three times as strong and prepared as here in Spain. They give tremendous importance to extra work, before and after training, they make you a weekly planning of what each player needs so that in the end you get to one hundred percent or the closest to that.
It has affected me a lot because imagine that here in Spain, sometimes the training is 10 to 10 and a half, then people arrive 10 minus five, 10 minus ten. There is a lot of people who like to prepare before, warm up, arrive an hour, an hour and a half before, but there they forced you to be two hours before to have breakfast with your colleagues, do the preventive, do your work before training and of course, to the week was dead. Until the body is organized, it gets used to it and well, that wakes you up to see why they do all those jobs, but adaptation is difficult and Leo is probably going through that. But hey, he’s playing for one of the best teams in the world and it’s going to be good for him too because he has all the best players there.
You are 33 years old, are you considering the post-career?
Yes, I think about it because in the end when you prepare, you are not surprised. The change is strong, but for those who are preparing it is not so hard.
What would you like to do?
I would like to be a Director of Cantera. He who cares about the inferiors, I think the boy’s training is very important, especially at an age that is very screwed up, at 11 or 12 years in which the cut is becoming more obvious. If you are not prepared at that age, the boy suffers it and for life.
What would the world have to change regarding soccer players?
The issue of judging people without knowing them. A footballer is required to do many things that a normal person does not. People tend to vent the problems of the week on the court and you have to know how to handle it.
What dream do you have in your career?
Make his debut in the Argentine national team. In the end, if one dreams and has something in mind, there is no age number, because it is the moment that one is living. I am aware in the team that I am, because those who are in the selection are in top teams, but dreams are to be fulfilled.
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