Albanian grown in the Barcelona team Ivan Balliu now Barça opponent

Ivan Balliu

 Ivan Balliu is undoubtedly experiencing the most successful season of his career. The defender of Albanian origin, born and raised in Catalonia, is shining with Rayo Vallecano in La Liga.

But this week for him will be much more special. His team faces Barcelona, ​​the club in whose academy he was formed as a player, and normally there would be interest from the Catalan media for him. Balliu has shown how this season is being experienced at Rajo, how he left Barça, and how he sees the future of this club.

"It is clear that Rayo Vallecano was not built to be in the European area but to ensure survival as soon as possible. It's just the beginning, we have secured a lot of points and we have made the journey a little faster, but we should not dream more than that. Survival remains the goal and we would be wrong if we changed it.

The coaching-style fits in perfectly with my profile. He likes fast players on the wing who come out on the attack and that affects me a lot. When I finished Almeria's contract, there were a few other teams in La Liga looking for me but his phone call made me decide. He told me that he trusted me, he showed me his style of play and how I would get involved. It makes the balance change when you call a coach", he emphasized in the interview for "Sport", then focusing on the challenge with Barça.

"It gives me a lot of pleasure. I was formed there as a player and I have a lot of good friends from my Barça stage. Now I have the great fortune to face him at the highest level. It is clear that going to the first team of Barcelona is very difficult, they manage very little. But football continues outside of Barcelona. Everyone has to follow his own path, sometimes it is more difficult, but not everything ends with Barcelona. I was in "La Masia" for 8 years, and almost every summer we meet the whole group of friends of that time.

Leaving Barça? I predicted it was Dani Alves, playing 68 games out of 70. When you have a winger who marks an era at the club and international level, it is difficult to replace him. Leaving was not difficult, but I could see it approaching. I experienced it as a new goal to show that I could reach the highest level with another team and so it happened. Return? To tell the truth I see it far away. You have to do many good years in La Liga to be able to return. I never thought about it, but to be honest it would not be bad at all.

A Barcelona without Messi? Has lost the player it had as a benchmark, the best player in the world. Ansu is appearing, Memphis… Barcelona will always have good players and they will shine. For Messi's departure at first, I thought it was a way to put pressure on La Liga over the salary limit. But then I saw Laporta's statement and realized that everything was serious. It is a pity, as it was a tasteless departure, it deserved much more and I did not like it. I have trained with him many times and he has always treated me well. It's a sin to ask for their shirt, but now I have to ask for another (laughs).