Former player Diego Arias is happy on his return to Atlético Nacional, now as a coach in the minor categories, a position in which he also hopes to experience joy. He spoke with EL COLOMBIANO about various aspects.
What does this comeback mean?
“It is coming home, meeting friends, people with whom I spent many moments. We trained in defeats and we were also fortunate to share happiness with all the people who accompany us”.
What do you think of the present of Nacional?
“I feel that we must find the tools to place the club where it deserves it. The work that has been done has been good, although in results, apparently, not. There are many things that are being done well and it would be a shame to throw them away. It is to continue a great job, a process done in great detail, improving as much as possible. This is a path that was not traced at random, giving it continuity could have good results”.
What are your functions in this new stage?
“I’m second assistant to the professional cast and I’m connecting with many of the players who are there, young people who are going to compete with me in the category I direct, the First C.”
How do you feel in that role?
“I’m happy, it’s the first opportunity I’ve had to lead directly, but it’s a function that I’ve experienced since I played, even at Nacional. From the inside, with my colleagues we had to organize ourselves, identify the rivals’ strengths and know how we could control them. All that National process with the good technicians that we had made us understand things that happen in the game. In the other casts in which I was as a player, I fulfilled functions that a coach should do”.
What do you enjoy more, being a footballer or a coach?
“They are different stages. Playing, the last period, was very good. I had more information from when I started my career, so I enjoyed it. I was fortunate to be in good teams that achieved results. Now as a technician, who has just started, he offers other satisfactions. One of them, to see that the players appreciate the support that one gives them from the outside. Identify during the game where we can decipher the rival’s proposal, where we can take advantage of it. I know that the player greatly appreciates that contribution and now that I’m out of the line, I confirm that they value it. I enjoy both in my own way.”
What is the most difficult in your current position?
“Not being able to be in there, it’s something you feel. And there is something that I could not say that it is the most difficult, that I would better qualify it as the greatest opportunity and that is knowing that everything we do is based on serving, serving the players, generating the best scenario for them to be better. As a player I had many people doing it, today we lead that function in the team”.
Does it change anything for the players to know that you were a reference for Nacional?
“Honestly, I think that lasts five minutes or even less. They identify if the person in front is going to help them improve and brings them closer to winning. The player has been in competition since he was a child and what he wants is for the person in charge to help him win, to be consistent, respectful, regardless of whether he has won the Champions League, the Copa Libertadores or a World Cup. What is transmitted to a team is really important, and after the scrolls or that career as a player, it is very little that can contribute to convincing a group of players”.
Francisco Nájera and you have a great friendship. Did it hurt that this period together was short-lived?
“Without a doubt, at least from this new stage of coaches it was little. But we share a lot, I love Pacho too much. During this time I learned from him, he helped me a lot to see the way games are organized, how they analyze rivals, prepare training sessions and design tasks. It was really a nice opportunity for me to start with friends, with capable people, very professional, with incredible human beings. It was a short time, but I managed to grow in this stage of coach”.
Would you recommend that he continue to coach another team?
“As a friend first and then as a professional, I think it would be a great opportunity for any club in Colombia to have Alejo and Pacho. They are great professionals and human beings, and I am sure that all the good that Nacional did can be replicated in another team”.
Do you feel that they should continue to work together?
“Undoubtedly. It’s their decision, but both are good at what they do and complement each other well. I think it’s worth continuing to share as a coaching staff “
