Monday 3 April 2017 06:33, UK
Iago Aspas' time in England isn't remembered too fondly by Liverpool fans, but in Galicia he is very much a local hero. The Celta Vigo striker speaks to Sky Sports about his time at Anfield, playing with "spectacular" Luis Suarez, saving Celta as a teenager, and returning to play in his "house" years later...
When a young player leaves his boyhood club for the bright lights of one of Europe's elite clubs, there are all kinds of emotions to contend with, but for Aspas, leaving Celta Vigo for Liverpool was especially difficult, having developed a bond with Celtistas after saving the club from potential oblivion.
Aspas was 21, sitting on the bench at the Balaidos, watching his beloved side in a do-or-die clash with Alaves in June 2009. The loser would be relegated to the Second Division B - Spain's third tier and semi-professional football, divided up into regions. In Spain they call it El Pozo or "The Well" - easy to drop into but difficult to clamber back from. The financial ramifications didn't bear thinking about.
However, on only his second appearance for the club, Aspas came off the bench to score twice, the second of which was a 94th-minute winner, saving Celta from a damaging drop and forging an unbreakable bond with his fellow fans in the process.
"It was something special that I will always remember," Aspas tells Sky Sports. "It was my first game in Balaidos. It could not have been better. Eusebio [Sacristan, then Celta boss] trusted in me, a boy who was no one. I returned that trust with two goals. I understand that the fans can see me as a hero and I thank them for that, but I do not feel that way. I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time."
Hailing from Moana, just over the estuary from the city of Vigo, Aspas was living the dream, having spent his entire footballing life with the club he was crazy about as a boy.
Aspas gradually became a regular in the side. He scored 23 goals as Celta gained promotion to La Liga in 2013, and continued to find the net in the Spanish top flight, alerting Brendan Rodgers and the Liverpool hierarchy.
In June 2013, after an initial delay following a dispute with his agent, Aspas was on the plane to England - a move he insists was impossible to resist.
"It is always difficult to leave your home," says Aspas. "It's not just the club that you love, I also have my family here, my friends, but it was a very good opportunity for me. I wanted to have the experience of playing in another league, especially in the Premier League. To be able to do it in Liverpool, a historic club in Europe, was something incredible."
Initially, everything went to plan. Aspas scored and provided an assist on his first start in a pre-season friendly against Preston, before laying on the winner for Daniel Sturridge against Stoke in the Premier League season opener.
But that was as good as it got for Aspas in England. As Liverpool came close to a first Premier League crown, playing some exhilarating attacking football in the process, Aspas could only look on from the sidelines.
One goal against Oldham in the FA Cup and a famously embarrassing corner routine later, and Aspas was back in Spain, initially on loan to Sevilla, before the move became permanent.
Despite what people may think, it was a very enriching experience for me.
"Despite what people may think, it was a very enriching experience for me," says Aspas. "In England and then in Seville I grew as a professional and a person. My relationship with Rodgers was normal between a coach and his player. I did not play much that year, but you must remember that I met Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge at the highest level. Suarez is a spectacular striker.
"I would not have stayed because I wanted to play as many minutes as possible and there I did not have them, not when Suarez was playing like that.
"Language? I learned something, not much, but football is a universal language."
Things didn't go well at Sevilla, and Aspas was at a crossroads. He had returned to Spain to resurrect his career, but as Sevilla stormed to Europa League glory, Aspas was again a spectator from the dugout.
Then came a lifeline from a familiar source. Aspas had saved Celta as a youngster, now Celta were saving him.
"It was a very easy decision [to return to Celta] and over time it has been shown to be right," Aspas says. "I never lost contact with Celta because I have a very good relationship with everyone in the club. When the possibility of returning came true, I was very happy."
Almost exactly two years to the day after leaving Celta, the prodigal son had returned to Balaidos for a fraction of the money he'd been sold for. Three months later, Aspas scored twice against Barcelona as Celta dismantled the Catalan giants in Galicia. The local hero was home.
"It wasn't like a homecoming," Aspas says of that game. "I felt at home much earlier, from the first day I came back and felt again the warmth of the club and the fans. I am very grateful."
The goals have continued to flow for Aspas, and his form was rewarded in November with a first cap for his country at the age of 29. It came against England at Wembley, where he scored a fine goal as Spain snatched a draw.
Despite having suffered a heartbreaking loss to Alaves in the Copa del Rey semi-final in February, there is still plenty for Celta to play for, with a Europa League quarter-final against Genk to come.
Having overachieved in recent years in La Liga, Celta have fallen to 11th this time around ahead of the meeting with Las Palmas - the first of three Celta games in a week to be live on Sky Sports. The fixture produced an enthralling 3-3 draw in October.
"We have three games," says Aspas. "We have to fight for the nine points, starting with Las Palmas. It is a team that handles the ball very well and we have to be very focused to avoid things like those that happened in the previous game.
"In the Europa League we have a very good opportunity to continue dreaming and we will fight to keep going. We cannot forget La Liga. I always say it's the competition that feed us."
Having once reportedly suggested that he'd never date a girl from rival city A Coruna, Aspas could not be more committed to life in Vigo. And with a potential place in the last four of European competition on the horizon, the boy from across the estuary is in dreamland.
"This is my home," he says. "I do not know if I said that about the girlfriend of Coruna, maybe. They're just jokes. I think that the Galician derby [Celta versus Deportivo] is an example for all, for how they are behaving the fans and the clubs.
"In recent years the academy has been very important. It is always nice that a player who starts as a child in Celta knows that he can reach the first team. It is a dream come true."
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