Krkic: At 17 I had to compete with Messi’s new title

It is considered one of the great pearls La MasiaBy forming Barcelona, ​​Bojan Krkic ended up making a career that fell far short of expectations.

The striker made his debut for the Catalan club in 2007, at the age of just 17, and after good seasons under Pep Guardiola, he ended up leaving the club in 2011.

He still plays for historical emblems such as Roma, Milan or Ajax, but his performances on the field kept him out of the limelight and pushed him first to less media-focused teams, and later to minor leagues, having recently passed. years to MLS (CF Montreal) and Japan, where he played with Vissel Kobe until the end of 2022.

Now, Krkic has admitted the difficulties in managing expectations. ′′ At the age of 17 I had to compete against being named the new Messi. At first, I didn’t understand how I could live up to expectations, but little by little we learned to distance ourselves from those external signs and to be aware of our limits and accept them,” he said at Sports Tomorrow, an event organized by Barcelona.

Krkic highlighted the importance of psychological support to help strengthen young footballers who are suddenly exposed to more demanding realities. “Fortunately, things have changed a lot. When I started, this was not present in the clubs, but I worked in this side outside Barcelona », he recalls, also referring to the absence, for psychological reasons, of Euro 2008, which Spain won under the now deceased Luis Aragon. The first year at Barcelona was very good on a professional level, but very difficult on a personal level,” he presented. Krkic was among those selected to compete, but he chose not to participate. “It was clear that I could not go. I was going through a period of anxiety and decided not to go. The day before the call-up I spoke to coach Luis Aragones and explained it to him. At no point did I feel remorse, because I knew what situation I was in. And overcoming this situation was more important than winning the European Championship.

The 32-year-old footballer, who is currently unemployed, later commented on the moment that Ansu Fati, who made his debut for Barcelona at the age of 16 but is slow, largely due to injuries, is passing through to assert himself as one of the key players. for the team. “There is a big difference in therapy between the illusion that is created in the beginning when everything is going well and when things go wrong because of an injury or any other reason. Players are treated like a product,” he said, saying he went through the same experience as the 20-year-old.