Krkic: Messi and Ronaldo are not good role models

Back in the day, Bojan Krkić was Barcelona's next big thing - however, the forward born on August 28, 1990 did not reach the expected heights. He played for Barcelona, Roma, Milan, Ajax... but nowhere at the level expected of him.

Although he made over 100 appearances for the Catalan giants, winning two Champions Leagues and three national titles, Bojan Krkić's name is not often mentioned when talking about the club's successes. At least not when it comes to his playing days, and we'll see how he fares in the role of an official. The ex-footballer has recently been hired as Barcelona's youth coordinator. His goal is to help them adjust during the transition from youth to professional football.

Krkić will do his best to show the boys and girls who dream about the first team jersey of Barcelona by personal example which way to go. During his career, he encountered anxiety attacks, to which he dedicated a recently published autobiographical documentary.

"It was something I always wanted to do, to convey my experience from my playing days to young people. People think that everything is beautiful, but there is also a lot of suffering and effort needed. That's why I wanted to explain what I went through. The reason that I'm shooting a documentary because I want to send a positive message. It's not just for football fans, it reaches much further. It talks about personal situations and teaches you that Lionel Messi is not a good role model," said Krkic in an interview with AS.

The journalist of the Madrid newspaper, Santi Jimenez, was taken aback by that last sentence, and asked for an explanation.

"Neither Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo or Rafa Nadal are good role models. They are not ordinary cases and therefore cannot be role models for young people. What they achieved in sports is unique, and success can be reached through different scenarios. For me, Sergio Canales is a successful athlete because despite three knee injuries he managed to get to the national team shirt. Joselu became a Real Madrid player at the age of 33. Those are examples of success" Bojan Krkić believes.

When asked if he succeeded as a football player, there was at first silence, and then an answer.

"My story is the 84 goals I scored in Primera Division. Maybe it could have been 200, but I appreciate the effort I put in to get to those 84 goals and I don't think about the ones I didn't score. At the time I didn't know how to appreciate achievements, because in elite sport you are marked by the expectations of others, and that is very difficult to fulfill. It takes time and a process, but as a young player you don't understand it, you only understand it later," explains the guy who grew up in Barca's famous La Masia academy.

As someone who is now in charge of the development of young footballers, Krkić talked about how he will be guided in his work.

"Empathy. At the club, we have given great importance to the promotion of young players at all levels. From beginner level through cadets and youths to seniors. When you find out as a youth that you will be going to the training of the reserve team, you cannot sleep that night because of excitement. Today, the 15-year-old wants to train with the reserves and the 16-year-old with the first team. Something that is not normal has been normalized. The economic issue has a big impact on that, because clubs are in situations where they are forced to place high hopes on young players. The situation is such that everyone is in too much of a hurry and we should stop it. I'm talking about the kids who haven't formed yet and need to be talked to. We can't give up on that and Barcelona will try to appreciate that path. We have to teach the young players to appreciate the value of playing for the first the team".

Speaking about the problems he encountered, Krkić points out that in sports, as in all spheres of life, there are many people who look exclusively at personal interest and are not interested in the feelings of the people around them. That's why it was much better for him when he played football in the younger categories than when he became a professional.

"To be honest, I didn't have much fun. I know that sounds awful, but it was much better for me when I was playing football as a kid and was unaware of everything that was waiting for me. In life, to be happy, you have to be disconnected from the everyday events that surround you. I learned how to find my own way... I don't want it to sound like I suffered, but when I finished my career it was because I reached the end of a journey that lasted 16 seasons. There was suffering, pride, celebrations and goals. When I look back, I see more light than darkness," states Krkić, who played in seven countries and three continents during his career.