Correa on A Balón Parado
First team

CORREA: “WE WANT TO ACHIEVE BIG THINGS AND WE HAVE TO GIVE 100%”

09/03/2017
“Since the first training session I’ve seen the class and quality that the squad has,” said the Argentine.

Joaquín Correa was the guest on SFCTV’s A Balón Parado on Thursday night, and the Argentine recalled his arrival at the club: “There were a few offers, but the call from the management team was very important to me. It showed how well organised Sevilla was. It was a big club on the world stage, a top club and I didn’t think twice.”

“We have a squad and we know how to use it”

From the start, “Tucu” Correa found himself with what he had hoped for: “There was a group of players with a lot of class, I noticed that in the first few training sessions which were full of quality. It’s a great group of lads, a great organisation. The level that Sevilla are at these days is top, and we’ve got to keep getting better.”

The 22-year-old looked forward to Sevilla’s next two games: “Once a game finishes, we’re thinking about the next one. We’ve got to keep tweaking things and working hard. We’ve got the right to dream, with the quality that there is in the squad and how we do it, bit by bit.”

On this theme, Correa continued: “We all have a hunger to play well, we’re thinking about the game against Leganés first. We want to achieve big things and everyone, even up to the chefs, has to give 100% for us to achieve. We have to think about ourselves, not about the opposition. The only option is winning.”

On scoring Sevilla’s goal against Leicester in the first-leg of the Champions League last-16, Correa said: “It was a goal that I scored with my soul because I was frustrated at not scoring the penalty. It was an important goal for us, we were playing well against the Premier League champions.”

“We were playing well against the current Premier League champions”

On a more personal note, Correa recalled the difficult times he has faced in his career: “When I was 11 I went to Buenos Aires to go on trial with River Plate, more than 1,000 miles from my family. In a town nearby there were a few trials for older kids, my father took me and a few days later they called him telling me to go to Buenos Aires and I went on a 20-hour bus trip to get there, in the hope of becoming a footballer. Living so far from my family and friends made me have a really good time.”

On this, he continued: “Some time later, my dad came with me to Buenos Aires. When he left I couldn’t stop crying, I was disconsolate. I asked him not to leave and he told me that if I was struggling then it would be better that we both went back to Tucumán. We went in the car and I told him to turn round and take me back. I was young and didn’t know how to make the decision. Football was my passion but I couldn’t face leaving my family. When I grew up and turned 14, it was easier to go to River Plate, at the digs there I found a very familiar atmosphere and I’m even still in touch with the chefs, who gave me a lot of warmth and care; what a young lad far away from this family needed.”

At the end of the programme, the player received numerous messages from his family and friends.