THE INTERVIEW “If you work hard, you’ll reap the rewards” Mathieu Valbuena is a hard worker, a playmaker and a danger to any defence. In an interview, the 30-year-old French international discusses his difficult beginnings in Bordeaux, his tenacity and the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Mathieu Valbuena, which players did you enjoy watching most? Mathieu Valbuena: My idol has always been Ronaldo, Il Fenomeno, who could do incredible things with the ball. Romario and Rivaldo also fired my imagination back then and did great things for Barça. They didn’t play like everyone else – they were football geniuses. When you’re a kid, it’s players like those who get you dreaming. They’re the reason people say football is beautiful, and they create passion for the sport. Your own image is that of a player who had to work harder than most to get where you are. Why is that? It’s never been easy for me because of my build, which raised question marks for a lot of people. I started out at Bordeaux at the age of eight and completed my training there, but when I was 18 and it was time to progress to the first team, they put the brakes on. It was because of my size, or perhaps because I wasn’t ready to take on the physical challenge at the time. I left and had to finish my training elsewhere, at smaller, amateur clubs. It was tough because when you go from training sessions every day to sessions twice a week, you need to train on your own to be able to continue believing in your dream. When you get rejected at 18 you can’t exactly be a tower of strength, but I busted a gut and never gave up. It ended up making me stronger. How did you react at the time? I cried. It really made me sad because I felt like my world was suddenly collapsing. My parents, and my father in particular, were the driving forces who pushed me to keep believing. They told me I was still young and that I needed to work and follow a different path to keep progressing in order to get there in the end. I went to Langon and then Libourne, where it was tough for me to impose myself, but I’ve always been able to achieve my goals. My strength has been my capacity to stick at a task despite nothing having ever been easy, whether it was becoming a professional, winning a starting place at each new club or getting into the national team. Thanks to hard work and self-sacrifice, values which have always been my strengths, I’ve always managed to turn things around. How did your difficult start in the game make you stronger? It was a blessing in disguise. I didn’t get everything handed to me on a plate. Today you see a lot of players who sign professional contracts very young and suddenly find themselves in a comfortable situation. If I’d signed with Bordeaux, perhaps I never would’ve had the career I’ve had and wouldn’t have become an international. The fact that I was cast aside was like a wake-up call. What aspect of your personality made it possible for you to overcome all those challenges? I think it’s a kind of carefree attitude. I also had a respect for hard work which I got from my parents, and I was passionate about football. Football is my whole life and I get huge pleasure from playing games or kicking the ball around with friends. These days you don’t find as many passionate people in football. I’m just happy when I get to train and kick a ball, and when I play I’m not thinking about anything else. That’s what gives me strength. Does that same quality explain why you have tended to perform well in big games? For me, it’s a pleasure to play in a big game. You have to approach it positively and enjoy it. If you work hard, you’ll always reap the rewards. It’s true that I got to score in some important matches when I was at Marseille. My debuts have tended to be successful as well. For example, my first Champions League game was at Liverpool, where I scored. It was the same with my international debut. For me, that’s a positive pressure. I try to make the most of it so as to have no regrets when I end my career. How did your experiences at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil change you? On a personal level, it was an adventure like nothing else I’d ever experienced. Leaving aside the fact that we all performed well, the cohesion in the squad was extraordinary, as were the stadiums and the ambience. And that fact that it was held in Brazil added something very special to the mix. It was a great moment and scoring a goal against Switzerland remains my greatest career memory. Having spent a year in Russia, what are your expectations of the 2018 World Cup? I can tell you that they’re thinking about it a lot. We’re thinking about it too, but it’s still some way off because we’re due to have the EURO in France. Having seen the stadiums and the projects under construction, I can assure you that the infrastructure is fantastic and that it’ll be a truly great World Cup. What are your thoughts on France’s qualifying group, with Les Bleus drawn alongside the Netherlands, Sweden, Bulgaria, Belarus and Luxembourg? There are no easy groups whatever happens. We lost to Albania at the end of last season. There are no small teams any more – the days when you could beat Azerbaijan 10-0 are long gone. We’ll have to fight hard, as in every qualifying campaign. We had to go through the play-offs to reach the last World Cup, so I hope that this time we’ll finish top. Å Mathieu Valbuena was speaking to Pascal de Miramon 18 THE FIFA WEEKLY
pressesports Name Mathieu Valbuena Date and place of birth 28 September 1984, Bruges, France Position Midfielder Clubs played for 2001-2003 Girondins Bordeaux 2003-2004 Jeunes de Langon-Castets 2004-2006 Libourne-Saint-Seurin 2006-2014 Olympique Marseille 2014-2015 Dinamo Moscow since 2015 Olympique Lyon France national team 50 caps, 8 goals THE FIFA WEEKLY 19
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