Villarreal and Spain -star Alex Baena has admitted that he earned only a few months before he earned Euro 2024 and an Olympic gold medal in the space of a month, he was close to stopping football. Now he has one of the smartest futures in the Spanish game.
The 23-year-old has six goals and seven assists in 24 performances this year for the yellow submarine, and comes from a season in which he led La Liga for assists. Baena has also become a fixture for Spain since his first call-up, and now has eight caps to go with his two gold medals.
Yet it all threatened to be taken away because of an incident with Real Madrid star Fede Valverde. Baena was accused of insulting the unborn child of Valverde – a claim that he has fiercely refused – and in a second fixture, three months later, Baena Valverde accused him after the game. Baena then had help from a psychologist.
“I already had a psychologist for what happened, since I arrived in the first team, because I came from playing everything in the youth teams and when I arrived at the first team and I didn't play, I didn't know how to manage it,” he said Relo.
“The thing with Valverde, these are things that happen, you have to see it in a way that I didn't see it at the time, I couldn't see the light. The media pressure that I had and remains as a result is very high. But people don't know me from the field and they concentrate on what happened, what they see on the field. It is true that I am very different on the field: I am a winner, very competitive, that I may go across the line in certain actions, but it is never with malice or to cause damage. And of that I am the opposite: shy, timid, reserved. But people don't see that, although what is important to me is that my people see it. '
Baena has also recently noticed that he would be willing to sit with Valverde to solve the problem.
“To grow, mature and move forward, you need to know how to forgive. I know that it is very difficult for that situation to arise, for both of us to agree on what happened, but I would sit and talk. For my side everything is fine, I know it is a very delicate and difficult problem, but from my side there will always be a construction to do this. “
Baena was recently involved in an exchange on Twitter with journalist Albert Ortega, and he was asked what he would tell the people before they sent him hateful messages.
“Before you write a comment, you should think about how they would take it if they were those who received that comment. People touch, write, touch and they do not realize that there are people who are having a hard time with those things. I also believe that it comes a bit from journalism, from some newspapers that encourage journalists to create a campaign, not only for me, but also for other players. “
And admitted that the hatred pointed his way and almost drove him to his family in a different life.
“Yes, a few of us know this, it has been a difficult year, after everything that happened. I was about to give up everything, to give up football, there was a time when my head exploded, I didn't want to continue. It coincided with my call for the national team, that was when I hit rocky bottom. I remember sending an SMS to my psychologist that I wanted to stop. They all helped me, the call-up for the national team raised me. Also because of coincidences in life, the Bernabeu game was my turning point, because I was injured by a stamp, but that day was when my head clicked. '
Baena rejected an offer from Saudi Arabia in January and noticed that it was 'not the right moment', but is expected to be one of the most coveted talents in Europe this summer.
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