First team

MURIEL: “I'M AT ABOUT SIXTY OR SEVENTY PERCENT OF WHAT I CAN GIVE”

01/02/2018

The striker assured: "at difficult moments I never lost my smile"

Luis Muriel is starting to repay the confidence Vincenzo Montella has shown in him with goals. Scoring just this Wednesday in Butarque against CD Leganés, the Colombian explained to A Balón Parado the sweet form he is in: "To score this kind of goal know that you are doing well gives you happiness and confidence. I wanted to celebrate with Pablo because it was a great pass".

With goals like he scored in Butarque, Muriel has started to see the rewards for his daily work: "I never lost my smile in the tough moments I was going through, I always stayed happy. I know that it was a period I had to go through to eventually regain the fruits from that struggle. I had to see hard work not be paid off with results and that was tough".

“It was a question of changing my mentality and staying positive”

To overturn the situation there were two main factors that helped - one being in his mentaltiy: "I found refuge in my wife and daughters. I tried to disconnect when I was with my family but those negative thoughts also came back in training, I didn't even recognise myself in training. I want to show why they had signed me quickly and I made mistakes that weren't me. I had a label but if I changed I had a lot to gain. I changed pyschologically and I shook it off, those thoughts. My agent and his team constantly came to speak to me, it was a question of changing my mentality and having positive thoughts that focused on the good that I could do".

Other factors that have contributed to Muriel's so-called 'return' is the arrival of Montella: "He talks to me a lot, since his arrival he's encouraged me to be strong, to know that I'm a good player and that I have to score 20 goals. He told me that in this league there is more space which I can take advantage of to find the back of the net more. He trusts and believes in me".

“After living through hard-times, I've come to appreciate what I have a lot more”

Muriel is back to his old ways, although he acknowledges "I am capable of even more, I'd say that I'm at about 60 or 70% of my full potential. I hope to be here for many more years to come, and that together, with the fans, my performance will be valued, I am happy here. They told me that Sevilla was a great club in a beautiful city, but it's a lot more than that".

The Sevillista has now accomplished a long-awaited goal: "Since December 2016 I started hearing that Sevilla FC was interested, I spoke a lot with Bacca and he advised me. My agent discussed several offers in the summer transfer window but I told him that the only offer I wanted to take was here at Sevilla. I was happy with Sampdoria and made clear that if I were to move teams, it would be to Sevilla and no other team".

The Colombian striker knows to appreciate the good that comes his way because fulfilling his dream and getting to where he is today didn't come easy: "My dad was a taxi-driver and back in Colombia there are a lot of taxis. He earned an average of 20,000 pesos each month, an amount that is equal to 7 Euros. With that income, my parents couldn't make it to the end of the month and so I helped out by selling lottery tickets and beads that my grandmother had made. With the money I earnt, I was able to pay for my tickets to the Santo Tomás academy to train. After living through harder times, I've come to appreciate life a lot more and value everything. It was a dream come true when I received my first wage with Udinese because I was able to buy my father his own taxi which meant that he wouldn't have to work for someone else as he had done so previously. When we left the dealership I saw the look on his face and I was happy".

To bring the interview to a close, the striker had a few words of encouragement for his teammate: "Sergio is a good player, he knows that we all believe in him, he's a great goalkeeper. He's had some great games and he will continue to do so, he was subject to a foul which prevented him from moving as he would've liked. Sergio knows that he has all of us with him and that we love him".