Real Betis striker Borja Iglesias, wide player Aitor Ruibal, and Sporting CP full-back Hector Bellerin might be the most well-documented ‘bromance’ in Spanish football at this point. All three have spoken openly about the impact that their friendship has had on their lives, and the trio would ahng out regularly when Bellerin was at Betis.
In a recent interview with Relevo, Iglesias spoke about the dynamics of the dressing room in modern football, and how it is no longer just a place for ‘real football men’.
“I think it’s changing. I see more and more colleagues who read, above all, books related to sports. I have had times when I did the same but now I prefer to read a novel. It allows me to escape from the moment a bit. Then we do share articles, many people send things they see and find interesting. It is more and more normal to see it, before it seemed that you were a freak.”
Moving onto the former Barcelona and Arsenal man, Iglesias had nothing but praise for Bellerin, who changed his outlook on things.
“Yes, he’s tremendous, he’s tremendous. Hector is definitely happy because he is a guy who has also worked hard and has reached a point where he is who he is, and if someone doesn’t like him, well… he forgets about it, right?”
“Because I think he’s a guy you have to listen to. Not now this year, but he’s lived abroad for 10 years in a difficult country, for a 16-year-old boy when you go to England to live in a city that overwhelms you from all sides, and he is a guy who has enormous capacity at an emotional level, who knows how to understand himself, and understand others.”
In particular, he highlighted one anecdote where Bellerin pulled him up on an incident.
“One of the things that surprised me the most with him is that one day there was something he didn’t like about me and he called me and said: ‘What are you doing?’ And I tell him: ‘I’m home.’ And he says to me: ‘Do you want to have a coffee?’ I said yes. And I got there and he told me: ‘Look, this has happened and it has made me feel bad.’ And that had never happened to me, let alone… with a very close friend, yes, but in the world of football they let things go, you cover them up as best you can.”
“And the guy took me and told me: ‘I didn’t like this and I’m not saying that you did it on purpose or anything, but I want you to know it because I know that if it doesn’t it will stay there and it can become entrenched in a way and it won’t I want it to spoil our relationship.’ And I told him: ‘Thank you. I apologise because it was not my intention at all, but thank you for telling me because I was not even aware of it.’ And I was really surprised how he did it, very natural, in a perfect way. This is how you have to face things. Sometimes we try to dilute these things and it’s not worth it.”
Bellerin is currently at Sporting CP, but there are rumours he may return to Betis and Seville, where it seems he has been happiest in recent years.
Iglesias and Bellerin are both known to champion social causes with their platform, and the pair of them cut two of the more open characters in the game.
