The Untold Story of Sergio Ballesteros: From Football Rivalries to the Family Chicken Farm

A decade ago Oliver and Benji’s characters were compared to active footballers. There was the greatest rivalry that has ever existed between two players, that’s why Leo Messi took the role of Oliver and Cristiano Ronaldothat of Mark Lenders. They were all world stars, but in those similes a corpulent central defender appeared who was related to Clifford Yuma. It was Sergio Ballesteros (Burjassot, Valencia, 1975) who, although he did not play in the Champions League, slipped in alongside the superclasses on that list. He left football in 2013 and now works at the family chicken farm.

“Both my father’s family and my mother’s have dedicated themselves to livestock. When I left football, I spent more time with them and I saw that this job suited me. And I jumped in,” Ballesteros explains in a conversation with El Confidencial. They said that he was slow about that stout center-back with character, but he won a race Cristiano. “It’s still going around YouTube,” she says with a laugh.

He went through Levante, Tenerife, the Vallecano Ray, Villarreal and Mallorca. But he is remembered more for his last years at the Valencian club (2008-13). That team, first led by Luis García Plaza and later by Juan Ignacio Martínez, earned the animosity of many rival hobbies. Ballesteros sums it up: “Nice teams lose many games”.

Sergio Ballesteros defends Fernando Llorente. (EFE / Biel Aliño)

A change of position

That Levante achieved the first European qualification in the club’s history, in 2012, by finishing sixth. “I arrived at the age of 32, when I was a veteran, and I was there until I was 37. They were spectacular years in sports, not only because of what we achievedalso for the group that was formed”.

The two stages in Levante were the prologue and the epilogue of his career. “I went to Levante to take the test through a neighbor from Burjassot. We were 50 or 60 kids and we had to play a match between us. I was lucky and they told me to come back the following week. But not to do more testing, but to train.”

“It is Jupp Heynches who changes my position.” You probably remember Ballesteros as a centre-back, but his beginnings were as a midfielder. In that position he played for Levante and Tenerife. With the Tenerife team, he reached the UEFA semifinals in which they lost to Schalke 04. “They knocked us out after extra time! If we had qualified, we would have gone to Inter in the final. The old stadium in Gelsenkirchen was packed.”

Ballesteros celebrates a goal with Levante. (EFE/Javier Lizón)

The passage through the Lightning

that project of TenerifeHowever, it went from more to less and the team finished in Second. In the succession of coaches, Carlos Aimar came to the bench, a superstitious guy like few others. One of his routines was to slap the players on the chest before jumping onto the pitch. “It was very shocking to see him with a full scarf, but he was like that”.

“Juande Ramos has been key in my career. His career did not surprise me because I saw how he worked at Levante.” He was his coach in his first spell at Levante. And the one he had at Rayo Vallecano. There he coincided with José María Ruiz-Mateos, with whom he had “little relationship.” And with the president, Teresa Rivero. “That directive was a spectacle. We, yes, we related more with the sports director”.

Rayo Vallecano had a stage in which they toured Europe, but it will never be comparable to what Villarreal has enjoyed. In 1997, Fernando Roig became the club’s largest shareholder and in 2001 Ballesteros joined the Yellow Submarine. “You could see that it was a serious project. Roig had in mind to build a big team. And players of a lot of quality arrived”.

Juande Ramos trained Ballesteros at Rayo and Levante. (EFE/Jose Manuel Vidal)

Riquelme’s leadership

Juan roman riquelme It was the compass of that Villarreal. A footballer who tiptoed through Barcelona, ​​but who became the banner of that team. “I never had a partner of his level. Different players, like him, must have privileges.”. Ballesteros, yes, he was no longer in the team when Manuel Pellegrini arrived and they reached the semifinals of the Champions League.

Benito Floro was one of the coaches who led him in the Villarreal. He admits that he was “advanced” when working “facets that were almost unknown at that time”. The Asturian incorporated a psychologist in the clubs in which he was, in addition to rehearsing plays such as throw-ins. It’s usual now, but not before.

Riquelme was a partner of Ballesteros. (Archive)

“Pellegrini insisted that I stay, but Benito Floro told me to go to Mallorca. And there I went “. Ballesteros did the entire preseason with the Chilean center-back, but —despite being the undisputed starter in that Villarreal surrounded by stars like Marcos Senna or Juliano Belleti— he sought a stage in the Balearic Islands.

That Mallorca remained in the First Division during the four seasons that Ballesteros served there. In 2008, he returned to Levante to return the club to the First Division and qualify for UEFA. In those years, he earned a tough reputation that he defends himself against: “I didn’t injure anyone in more than 400 games”. They also said that he was slow, but he won a race from Cristiano Ronaldo himself.

A decade ago Oliver and Benji’s characters were compared to active footballers. There was the greatest rivalry that has ever existed between two players, that’s why Leo Messi took the role of Oliver and Cristiano Ronaldothat of Mark Lenders. They were all world stars, but in those similes a corpulent central defender appeared who was related to Clifford Yuma. It was Sergio Ballesteros (Burjassot, Valencia, 1975) who, although he did not play in the Champions League, slipped in alongside the superclasses on that list. He left football in 2013 and now works at the family chicken farm.

2023-07-16 03:01:49
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