Leiva's interview with LFC Brasil.

[King Binny]

http://www.liverpoolfc.com.br/eventos-e-promocoes/2011/quer-ganhar-um-autografo-lucas-leiva/

Going straight to the questions, how was it for you when you knew Liverpool were interested in signing you? What were your expectations?

A: I found out about Liverpool’s interest in me in March 2007 when I was playing in the Libertadores Cup [like a Champions League of South America]. Rafael Benitez contacted my business manager and my father saying that he was interested in signing me. I was happy because my expectation was to go to a big club in Europe.

2) Much is said about how difficult it is for Brazilians to adapt to life in England, and it is well known that you had a difficult start both on and off the pitch. Did it help having Fabio Aurelio around?

A: It is always very difficult to switch countries, especially at such a young age (20 years). England is a country completely different from Brazil, from the language to the climate and the style of football. I had a very difficult start here in Liverpool, but I set my mind to the task of changing my style of play in order to succeed. Fabio helped me on my arrival, particularly within the club, but you end up with many things to learn by yourself. I had the awareness to change my style of football to improve and it paid off.

3) You were on the receiving end of a lot of criticism from fans, especially in your first season. How did this affect you?

A: As I said earlier, I had a very tough start in the club where I ended up getting a lot of criticism. I felt that there was a lot of mistrust, but I tried to stay focused so that I could become an important player for Liverpool. Gradually, through hard work and dedication, I’m getting there.

4) Throughout your difficult early career at Liverpool, Rafa Benitez always believed in you and your football. How was your relationship with him?

A: Rafa Benitez was very important for me because he always recognised my work. He saw that I had always been devoted to improving as a player, so he was confident even when I received a lot of criticism. I do not know if any other coach would have the patience he had with me. I will always be grateful.

5) The same fans who were so fierce in their criticism of you now worship you, even rating you as the most important player in the Liverpool team. How did it feel to be voted Player of the Season by our fans?

A: The award I received last year just shows how much I have improved as a player and the fans recognised that. Fans are fuelled with passion. When you win you are a hero, when you lose they call for your head. I tried to understand this and tried to improve, to reach a level high enough to receive their acceptance. Thank God it happened. It has been a huge accomplishment for me.

6) We are all fans of your personality and how you have progressed in your career so far at Liverpool. In the game against Glasgow Rangers you captained the team from the beginning of the match. Do you dream of being the Liverpool captain one day?

A: I had been appointed captain in a Europe League game when Hodgson was in charge but the game against Rangers was remarkable for me, and Kenny Dalglish has always given me great confidence since the beginning of his work here. Being captain of Liverpool is a great responsibility. I hope to have other opportunities, it gives me huge pride.

7) Liverpool had a hard time last season on and off the field until the new owners took over. How did it impact the team?

A: The new owners are doing everything to give us the resources to win titles. The club have signed many new players. It is normal for a new team to take time to gel, but I see our team much stronger than last year, despite acknowledging that the results have not been as good as we would like.

8 ) Do you think your role on the team has evolved with the arrival of Kenny Dalglish? How is having King Kenny as coach?

A: Kenny Dalglish is considered the greatest player in the history of Liverpool. He won all possible titles as a player and as coach has been very successful. Kenny always gives me confidence. I've grown a lot since his arrival. He was a player so he understands what it means to be a part of a team. This helps in his relationship with the group.

9) Lucas, you were formed at Grêmio’s Academy, and the classic Gre-Nal (Grêmio vs Internacional) is considered as the greatest rivalry in Brazil, do you feel the same pressure in the Merseyside Derby?

A: At first I did not feel the same pressure as I did not understand the history of The Derby when I first arrived, but after a few years I started to understand what The Derby means for Liverpool fans. I now feel the same way before The Derby as I did before the Gre-Nals

10) One last funny question that many wanted to know, will you ever let your hair grow again? With that mullet? (laughs)

A: My days with long hair are gone. I enjoyed that period a lot. I liked my long hair, but it is gone. My life is in a different place now. Honestly, I do not see myself ever having long hair again.

One more time thank you for your participation here. Not only the Liverpool fans, but all Brazilians are rooting for you to be a big success for both the club and the national team. And for sure, with the way you're going, you already have our vote for the best Liverpool player this season. Thank you, Lucas!

 

[mark1975]

It's really difficult to not like him as a guy, he always comes across as a good, honest player.

 

[Rosco]

Look how much better Xabi is even in interviews ....

Xabi Alonso eases himself on to a wooden bench in a tiny dressing room at the Spanish Football Federation's headquarters in Las Rozas, north-west of Madrid, and talks –eloquently, intelligently, rationally, occasionally passionately and in Spanish. Well, mostly in Spanish. Every now and then, when there is not a natural equivalent, he turns to English where those words more properly belong. It may not be his intention but in doing so he reveals something that, on listening back, is striking.

The urban myth talks of a hundred Eskimo words for snow: words are never just words but a way of making sense of the world around us. And when it comes to football it is tempting to conclude that England and Spain are different worlds. In the time Alonso talks he uses seven English phrases. He mentions "poppy" – Fifa's inflexibility and the construction of an "unnecessary" controversy baffles him – and he mentions "the Liverpool Way". But he also talks about the "target man" and about balls: "Hollywood balls", "long balls" and "second balls". Then he mentions "tackling".

It is a theme he returns to twice; much of what he proposes crystallises in that one word: tackling. Those concepts exist in Spanish and "tackling", in English, forms part of Spain's football lexicon, while their use reflects how well Alonso integrated at Liverpool, whom he joined at 22, switching languages as smoothly as he switches play. But it also reflects something very English. Some would say a very English problem.

When Spain won Euro 2008, it ended a 44-year wait and left England alone as international football's great underachievers. Last summer England sought to end their own 44-year wait. Instead Spain won the World Cup. Brazil, Argentina, and Germany were one thing; Spain another. They had broken with their dark past. "And," Alonso says rapidly, "who's to say that England can't do the same?" But how? By pitching England against world champions who not so long ago were just like them, many of whom play in England, this game has been surrounded by questions. Two above all: What do you do right? And what do we do wrong? First, a warning. "Please don't think I'm telling you what to do or that Spain looks down on England. Far from it," the midfielder says. "I was privileged to play there and every Spaniard who's been there loves it."

Unlike some players Alonso, at 29, loves the game. There is something traditional, classic, about his approach to it and a sadness when he responds to being asked how many times he has played at Wembley with a simple "zero". "I'm looking forward to it," he says, "but I wish it was the old one with its charm – the cradle of football." He says there is no reason why England should not win. "People in England are saying we'll hammer them," he says, "but I'm not falling for that one …"

Besides, not only is there warmth, there is gratitude. Without the contribution of English football, Euro 2008 and South Africa 2010 may never have witnessed Spanish success. "Spain benefited from players going to England," Alonso says. "They had the chance to play at the highest level and were given responsibility they might not have had, experiencing a very different type of football. I listened and learnt from people like [Jamie] Carra[gher], Stevie [Gerrard], Didi Hamann and Sami Hyypia and definitely improved.

"The pace of the Premier League is different. If you can adapt it improves you. I'm not surprised [David] Silva is performing so well. He's an incredible player and if you can acclimatise you can use the speed to your advantage: if, in the middle of that frenetic pace, you're good enough to apply pausa, put the brakes on, feint and send the opponent flying 10 metres past, that gives you a real advantage. If [Juan] Mata and Silva can employ the technique they have to a game played at 100 miles an hour, they'll come back to the national team better players. International football will seem easier to them."

It seems harder for the English. "English football has developed – you can see that in the way some teams adapt their style for European competition – but it could go further," Alonso says. "There are fewer teams that play the 'typical' target man, long ball, second-ball game. Foreign players have proposed a new focus, foreign coaches too. English football has to protect what makes it wonderful but it could gain in collective ideal, in association – especially with the national team.

"It's hard to judge England in South Africa but maybe they failed to gel despite having excellent players. Sometimes it seems the English don't rate those who make the team work rather than standing out themselves. You shouldn't necessarily pick the best players; you have to have a collective identity."

In other words, don't waste 10 years trying to crowbar Gerrard and Frank Lampard into the team. Alonso dodges the bullet. "Hey," he says. "That's a press debate. I'm not saying that. But the collective ideal hasn't always been there. Paul Scholes maybe hasn't had the international career he should have. Or Michael Carrick: he makes those around him better, regardless of the fact that he's not the one who scores the most goals, or a great tackler."

There is a pause as Alonso reaches, again, the crux of the issue. A single English word he returns to that, unpacked, analysed and investigated, explains much. "I don't think tackling is a quality," he says. "It is a recurso, something you have to resort to, not a characteristic of your game. At Liverpool I used to read the matchday programme and you'd read an interview with a lad from the youth team. They'd ask: age, heroes, strong points, etc. He'd reply: 'Shooting and tackling'. I can't get into my head that football development would educate tackling as a quality, something to learn, to teach, a characteristic of your play. How can that be a way of seeing the game? I just don't understand football in those terms. Tackling is a [last] resort, and you will need it, but it isn't a quality to aspire to, a definition. It's hard to change because it's so rooted in the English football culture, but I don't understand it."

The tackle is perhaps the greatest expression of an English conception of the game – physical, epic, emotional. By definition, reactive. After every tournament knockout, some respond by moaning that England's players did not feel the shirt, that they lacked passion. Alonso admires the sentiment but does not share it. Spain's experience suggests other flaws; passion is a myth to be debunked. "Passion?" he says. "Of course it's necessary but it's more important to have footballing foundations, certainly when developing players. Passion isn't something you work on. It's more important to construct a good team, to know how you are going to play, how to read the match. You have to truly understand the game."

Less motivation, more preparation, then? "Yes," Alonso says. "And from youth level upwards. From a Spanish perspective, what matters is the ball – possession of it, knowing what to do with it and when. The identity is clear. Technique is vital and intelligence is fundamental. You need players who interpret the play, who can adapt and do not just have one concrete skill or characteristic.

"There is a difference, for example, between Spain and Real Madrid because we have a different profile of players. Yet at Madrid, despite the long passes, my role is still mostly short – to keep the circulation of the ball going. With the national team it's even more about control, pass, elaborating play, judging time, waiting for the opening without being quite so quick or so direct. Look at [Sergio] Busquets, Xavi [Hernández], Silva, [Santi] Cazorla, Mata – in small spaces they read the game, knowing when to dribble, when to go short, when to switch or open out the play. That intelligence is vital to give a collective sense to the game."

It sounds easy, obvious. It is not – not even for Spain. Nor is it a case of tearing everything up, of ignoring the qualities of England's players or its traditions. "You can change without losing the essence of British football. Growing doesn't mean renouncing your history," Alonso says. "For Spain it took a long time and reflected the players we had. The idea, the same approach, is being inculcated at Under-21 level by [the coach] Luis Milla and all the way through. It fits our footballing culture. But it has been hard to get to here. There have been doubts, you know. Big doubts.

"Luis Aragonés and then Vicente del Bosque changed Spain's approach, as did the players. We know that's our way of playing, regardless of the score. It's very well defined, we have the right players and the right mentality. But maybe if we hadn't beaten Italy on penalties at Euro 2008 the belief, the fidelity to our style, would have been lost. That was a turning point. Then you play Russia and, bam!, you destroy them. And Germany in South Africa and, bam!, our best game. That reinforced our collective identity. You think: 'This is the way we have to play, this works.'

"Success convinced us that it is the right way forward. The past doesn't count in terms of results but in terms of approach it does. It doesn't mean we'll win in the future but we know how we'll try to win. The European Championship and the World Cup reinforced the idea but you have to start with an idea."

 

[dmishra]

That's a gread read.

 

[Y1]

what! no binnified long article?

 

[SummerOnions]

Because everything Xabi says is worth reading.