After remembering and describing how Papu Gómez felt when he received the notification of his positive, and after having overcome those first months away from a ballin this second part of the interview with Relevo he confesses to us how he has experienced it with his family – his wife and three children -, how much it cost him to touch the ball again or what plans you have to return to a team. For now, until his sanction ends, he can now train – he does so, for the moment, at Renate – waiting for him to sign for another club in the summer. He still doesn’t even want to talk about the withdrawal.
How are you doing now?
Coming out of the tunnel, seeing a little more light. The first year was a complicated year, even though one always puts the best good vibes and the best energy into it. But the first year was hard because I couldn’t train with Monza, I couldn’t use the club’s facilities, I had to train alone on a field near my house in Bergamo. And they didn’t allow me to study either, I wanted to take the coaching course and I couldn’t because of the suspension… Many small things that were affecting me mentally. I started playing paddle tennis, I tried to get away from football a little bit so that it wouldn’t end up disgusting me, so that football wouldn’t end up making me angry, so I tried to get away from it a little bit. Now, after the 50% suspension, I have the opportunity to train with a team and start completely from scratch.
How well have your children understood it? How did you explain it?
With the simplicity and truth that one can speak to a 12-year-old boy, like my eldest son, or to a 10-year-old girl, with the total truth: that dad was wrong to take a syrup that he shouldn’t have. take and that was why they had suspended him. Surely they will also be suffering from this process because they will have seen me more nervous, more anxious, less patient… They will have seen me more at home because I have been with them for longer and they were used to seeing me little or seeing me more on television than at home, but hey, now they have more time for me there.
“I told my children that dad made a mistake in taking a syrup that he didn’t have to take and that’s why he had been suspended.”
Papu Gómez Futbolista
How long did it take until you touched a ball during the penalty?
One year, one year. It was very difficult for me to even watch the games on television. It made me sick, it made me sick to watch games on television. Sometimes, my son wanted to show a Champions League game, a nice game at home, and I had to go somewhere else. It cost me a lot. Many times I have been invited to play soccer games or something with friends, some 7 on 7… And no, the truth is that I didn’t feel like it. That’s why I tell you that the padel thing and getting away from football a little was for that, more than anything to get away a little from this whole world and to give value to other things again, to take a liking to football. To start from scratch. That’s why I was without the ball for so long.
And did you ever think what you would have done without football?
What made me most angry, and which is what I told you before, is that I couldn’t even take advantage of the time to study. I told myself: ‘Well, I don’t play football anymore, that’s fine, I want to be a coach, I want to be a sports director, I want to continue being involved in football and at least take advantage of the free time while the suspension passes.’ And they don’t even let you do that, right? I mean, what’s the point of a suspension that prevents me from studying to be a technician? I am not a murderer, I did not kill anyone, I did not rape anyone, there is no criminal conviction, there is nothing. It doesn’t make any sense that I can’t start studying and they won’t even let you do that.
“I am not a murderer, I did not kill anyone, I did not rape anyone, there is no criminal conviction, there is nothing”
Papu Gómez Futbolista
Do you feel like your career has been tarnished?
No, I don’t think so, I think that’s more for the nonsense on social media or YouTube or other things. You can’t taint a 20-year career with cough syrup, you can’t taint a world championship. I always tried to be an example in all the clubs where I was, whether on the field or off. So I leave that for ignorant people. Staining is something else, this was a domestic accident, something that can happen to anyone and that’s it.
What are your plans from now on?
We have been waiting for the last appeal since June, we are in December and we still have not received a response, then you realize how little empathy they have with the person, that they have completely blocked you and do not even give you an answer. If they give you an answer and say no, you accept it and look to the future. But it’s not even. So well, I’m already training at Renate and, well, I’m going to continue doing it until June. Then the idea is to sign with a club and try to do the preseason, and then stay until October in a club and be able to make my official debut.
They told me that you would like to live in Madrid one day…
Yes, yes. The idea in the future is to be with the family, go to Madrid, we like it a lot, it is a world capital city and the language too, there are many Argentines living in Madrid. We would like to lay foundations there.
Can’t live without football?
Let’s see, there is life beyond football, I don’t want to say that there isn’t, but when you are used to doing the same thing all your life, in the end it becomes difficult. But yes, it is what I enjoy the most. We are going to try to continue playing for a few more years and when my body tells me enough is enough, then yes. I will withdraw, but I will withdraw to my conditions, not to the conditions of others.
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THEMES:
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Papu Gómez
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Champions League
2024-12-23 04:56:00