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Mario, welcome to Flashback
Do you know why you're here?
I've got a good Idea what it's about.
I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Ok, we're going to ask that you accompany us on a little reminder of your life
via a few photos. Here's the first one.
Does that sound good? Don't worry.
Do you recognise yourself?
My mother has got that photo
in the dining room at home
and every time anyone new goes around,
they can't believe it's me.
Because of the blonde hair?
Because of the blonde hair and how long it was.
And the head phone, are you a big music fans?
Yes I really like music, I like a bit of everything
whenever I can I listen to music.
It helps me relax and disconnect.
I am a big music fan.
This is with your teammates, I suppose these are the people
who you started playing football with?
Yes, this was in School,
in the Colegio Aldovea
In Alcobendas?
Yes
This was with my mate Eduardo
I started to play with him
when i left school in Alcobendas.
And do you remember those times, playing with them?
Yes, yes, I scored loads of goals.
I was a real goal scorer.
Yes, that was 'Fútbol Sala' and I scored 90 goals in a season
We always enjoyed it.
I missed an important penalty I'd cry, I was a young kid.
They taught me that
if you didn't try you couldn't fail
and these things happen.
I think it was good advice for someone so young.
Did the tears run down those check?
I look a bit
like the cookie monster
my mother looked after me well
The next one is a bit more professional,
it's from when you arrived at Atletico de Madrid in the youth teams.
Yes, we'd had the same group of player in Brunete
and this photo is
in the Palau Sant Jordi in an International tournament.
And what do you remember of when you arrived at Atleti
and the first time you put the shirt on?
Imagine, I'd arrived from Alcobendas
my mother had to take me to training
and from that
I was playing at a big club
like Atletico
we finished third in that tournament
in Spain at Brunete
and all these tournaments were televised and we were only ten years old
imagine what that was like for us, we were playing against Pique, Fabregas...
You've worn the Spanish national team shirt,
in practically all of the youth categories,
the under 17s, under 18s, under 20s, under 21s, under 19s as well.
Under 19s, under 20s, under 21s..
You were only missing the senior team
Yes, I'd always said that it's a dream
and a goal and why not
I'm playing in a good team,
things are going well for me there,
the manager trusts me
and I've always said
that it's a goal of mine with all respect to those that are already playing,
I think it's the best national team in the world, with the best players in the world
it's very difficult to get in
but I'm working every day to improve
to be a better player
and if one day the manager thinks
about giving me the opportunity
I'm going to try to make the most of it.
During these moments
you left Atletico Madrid
you went to a few different places: Valladolid,
Vigo,
Mallorca...
How has that helped you become the player that you are today?
I've always said that
I wish I'd never left this club and I'd have played over 300 games for the club
but I don't regret anything
in Valladolid we won promotion to Primera,
then in Vigo it was a more difficult year, we had a really good team team but things didn't goes as we'd have wished.
Then in Mallorca, that was the final spring board
I played every game
in the last year we finished 5th,
we were in the Champions league positions all season, I scored 6 goals,
I think things went really well and Atletico decided to buy me back.
It was a dream come true, I always said after I'd left
that my objective was to come back to Atletico Madrid.
This was in the first trip that I went
on with all my family,
we all went to New York
to visit the place
and we saw the final of the European Championships in a restaurant with other Spanish people
in a restaurant at New York
and look, we had the flag with my loved ones.
and we celebrated the victory there
Spain is the most important for any player, for my family too
and we celebrated the victory there with my loved ones.
How important have your family been with regards to your football career?
Have they helped you a lot?
Yes, my mother is the one who's always helped me getting to and from training
I had to come from Alcobendas which is far
were others who came from further away
but she'd be out of the house 4 hours in the evening,
we'd arrive home late for super
we sometimes had to eat in the car
On the weekends you play at 9 in the morning when you are a child
my father took me to the games
and my brothers would always help out how they could, they'd come to support
they're always at the game like any other fan, whether I'm playing or not
They're very important, they're the people who taught me everything,
to be humble, hard working, respectful.
Have they helped you out at any time when
you've been down when you weren't playing
or things weren't going well?
Always, my dad for example has always had a saying
that he'd tell me and my brothers
that if you want to do something you had to give it time and make time for everything
if I wanted
to play football, I had to study,
if I wanted to go out with my friends I had to study first,
and If I wanted to be a footballer I had to take it seriously,
not just play for the sake of it.
I've always know what I wanted to do, I always wanted to be a footballer,
be play professionally,
to play for Atletico Madrid and little by little I'm living out my dreams
and if it's not all down to the, its largely down to them.
You returned
to Atletico Madrid and to the first team, you were signed from Mallorca and I don't know
if you though in that moment
that you were back for good?
Yes, I remember it well
they'd been talking about the transfer for 5 or 6 month prior
to it happening
I went
to the cup final in Barcelona Vs Sevilla as a supporter,
I'd not signed anything at that point,
I remember the day that I signed, I sent about 200 messages
and I'd signed with the idea of staying.
I'd signed for 3 years
and now the club has extended that
five more years.
I'm over the moon,
I'm home, in my city, with the people I love,
in my childhood club.
Has it been difficult for you
to win the respect of the supporters?
Yes, I've had some difficult times.
When your fans
whistle at you
or they see that you're nothing doing well, its normal that they whistle you,
but I've always said that I prefer that they're demanding of me because this says
that they see potential to do things better.
Now the fans are really good with me.
Now when the crowd sings Super Mario
you're face turns the colour of the shirt
Yes, when they sing Super Mario
I do blush, I love it,
I love the fact they sing that to me.
This one is with the three European titles that you've won
with Atletico Madrid
It's the present,
but there´s a big future and there's still a lot to achieve isn't there?
This is a lovely photo..
Yes, this was when we presented them to the king
with the 3 cups
I've been here 2 years
and I've won 3 European titles
against Inter, Chelsea & Athletic Bilbao
This demonstrated that
we are a big club
and we'll
we fight for everything,
at the minute we're second in the league,
going game by game and that's how we achieve things
going game by game, not looking any further ahead
and look where it's got us.
Who'd have said in December that we'd have won the Europa League again
and the Super Cup in the summer.
What we do is work hard each day to go game by game
and keep trying
to win the respect of the public.
Mario, it's been a please. Have you enjoyed it?
It's been very good, very good.
Yes, really easy, with people like you it's always easy.