Thursday, October 10, 2024, 18:05
| Updated 6:39 p.m.
Bryan Zaragoza (Málaga, 2001) is back in the Spanish team. A year has passed since his debut with La Roja, twelve intense months in which this street footballer, of whom few remain, has gone through a wealth of experiences of all kinds. They say that the most difficult thing is not to open the doors of success, but to sustain it over time, and this extreme full of excess and impudence has had to reinvent itself after touching the sky at breakneck speed.
After dazzling in his debut in the First Division with Granada and debuting as a full international against Scotland in October 2023, he culminated a meteoric rise to the top with his signing for Bayern in December of that same year. Two months later he arrived in Munich, earlier than initially planned. In the Bavarian capital he lived a hard but at the same time enriching experience. Now, back in the League with his loan to Osasuna, he regains his shine with a performance that has convinced Luis de la Fuente.
-Go back to the national team, what is the feeling of being here again?
-I am very happy and very happy to be back in the national team. Let’s work to win the games we have.
-A year ago you made your debut for Spain against Scotland, how do you remember that moment?
-It was a special day, a very beautiful day that I will never forget because we also beat Scotland and in the next match, three days later, in Norway, we qualified for the Euro Cup.
-On the first day of concentration there was a effusive hug with Luis de la Fuente, what is your relationship with the coach like?
-Very good, he is a coach who is like a friend. He treats you personally, he is a very good person. A crack, since I arrived here the first day he treated me phenomenally and the relationship is very good.
-He said when he arrived in Osasuna that he had a goal, but that he didn’t want to name it so as not to spoil it. It was about being here again, right?
-Yes (smiles).
«The time at Bayern was tough, but I took very good things from there and I also have five more years on my contract»
-How did you experience Spain’s victory in the Eurocup after having worn the national team’s shirt a few months before?
-For your team, your country, to win a big tournament like a Euro Cup is something very big and I experienced it intensely because I had friends inside like Lamine Yamal or Nico (Williams). I was very happy for them and also for us, because I was also a participant in that Euro Cup, in the path to that Euro Cup.
The German experience
-How was the experience of arriving at a club of the size and demand of Bayern?
-A unique experience because in the end you are 22 years old and you go to Germany alone, to a club like Bayern Munich. It was a hard experience, honestly, because of the change of environment, the language, but I took very good things from there.
-Do you see yourself returning and succeeding there?
-Yes, yes. I have five more years on my contract, so I have a lot left.
-How are you doing in Pamplona? In Osasuna he seems to have recovered his best version.
-In Pamplona I feel as if I were at home since I arrived. The people, the team, the staff… Everyone treated me like one of their own from the first day. This is showing that I am performing well. I feel at ease.
«Two years ago I played in the Murcia field in the First Federation and now I return there with the national team; It’s a pride”
-It seems that everything has gone very quickly in your career…
-Two years ago I played in the Murcia field in the First Federation (with the Granada reserve team) and now I go to the same stadium with the senior team. For me it is a pride to return there with Spain.
-Is it difficult to manage a meteoric rise like yours?
-It’s not easy at all for a 22-year-old boy, but I think I knew how to handle it well. It’s true that it takes its toll on you because there are a lot of things in less than a year. Bayern Munich signs you and you go from nothing to the greatest.
-This week a legend of the national team like Iniesta has announced his retirement. What memories do you have of him?
-Iniesta is a reference for all Spanish and world football. It has given us many joys. A football great retires.
street footballer
-He defines himself as a street player. Because?
-Yes, street football in the sense of mischievous, with overflow, vertical… I have always had that and I don’t want to lose my essence.
-In this selection there is competition on the bands…
-It is always good to have competition, to compete against the best. The minutes will be decided by the coach.
-What is the atmosphere like in this champion team and with which teammates do you have the closest relationship?
-Very human and very good. I got along well with everyone, but Morata, from the first time I came, treated me as if he were my father without knowing me at all, spectacular. I have a very good relationship with Pedro Porro, with Nico, with Lamine Yamal, Yéremy Pino… It is a very healthy group.
-It is going a long way ahead in time, but as a player in national team dynamics, do you already have the 2026 World Cup in mind?
-Of course it is kept in mind. Everyone wants to play in a World Cup. For me it is a dream, we play football to achieve the maximum and representing your country in a World Cup is one of the greatest things there is. It is pending and we will continue working to achieve it.
