Bojan (1): "I want to get better every day"

Barcelona player Bojan gave an interview to Catalan sports paper Sport.





What do you see when you look behind?
In fact one could have fear of heights when looking behind. I made a lot of progress in very little time over the last three years. I've reached some important objectives.

Your life changed a lot?
Yes, quite a bit.

In which aspects?
Your private life, for example. Walking down the road isn't the same anymore, before you had more freedom. When you're doing something now, the consequences could be different.

How do you deal with the fame?
In the beginning I was somewhat confused, but you end up getting used to it, like with everything in life.

You're now playing more than one year with the first team, what did you learn in that time?
Well... I learned how it is to be part of a professional squad. It's somethng that influences you a lot as a person.

What do you still lack to reach your top as a player?
I think I'm still learning a lot by playing together with all the class players here. So I'm making daily progress. I don't have long-term objectives, I just want to get better every day.

You didn't play a lot at the start of the season, you never got worried?
No, I didn't. I've always been very calm and I always believed that I should grab the chances I could have. It's true that I didn't have a lot of minutes in the beginning of the season, but I wasn't worried at any moment.

Guardiola gave you an explanation?
No. I'm just one of the players in the squad. There are a lot of players and not everyone can play. We all should be prepared to perform when we get a chance.

But not playing a lot can have an influence on your game, your effectiveness.
Yes, the truth is that if you don't play, you're anxious to show what you can in the few minutes you have. And that makes you do too much and leads to some frustration. I just try to be as relaxed as possible and to play like I always do, with a lot of confidence.

Which differences do you see between last season and this season? How do you explain this change?
I think that we didn't start well last season. That group had alrady won a lot of trophies, while this year we have a new group, with a different mentality. And we started well.

The exit of some players that maybe had already won enough and weren't that hungry anymore could be the key for the recovery of the team?
I don' t know. I don't know about the motivation of the players last season, I'm talking about the group. And when the team gets out this season, everyone is motivated to have a great game, from the first to the last minute.


This was the first part of this interview. You can read the second part tomorrow.