THE MIDFIELDER FROM GALICIA RECOGNIZES THAT HE’S EXCITED WITH THE NEW PROJECT

Borja Fernández: "I’m eager to start the Super League"

Borja Fernández has left the Spanish League to start a new Championship: the Indian Super League. He’s excited by its start, which is getting closer: on October 12th.

T. Calvo / PHOTO: A. Gutiérrez

HE'LL PROVIDE HIS EXPERIENCE IN THE LEAGUE Borja Fernández Fernández (Ourense, January 14th, 1981) is a player with lots of experience in Spanish football. Trained in the Real Madrid farm team, he played two seasons in the Castilla and two others in the first team, from where he was transferred to Mallorca, in 2005-06. Later, he signed for Valladolid, where he stayed for four campaigns. Then, a journey of a season at Getafe and another in Deportivo, until his return to Getafe, where he’s been the past two seasons. The Atlético de Kolkata is his first experience in football outside the country.

Atlético de Kolkata has been concentrated in Los Ángeles de San Rafael since August 26th and will stay there until September 26th. Now, the Indian team will start playing friendlies to prepare for the start of the Super League.

Borja Fernández acknowledges that "we're eager to get there and see how the Super League presents itself, see the country, how we’re going to live. I’m eager to start the competition because it had been three months since I trained with the group and these first days, although they’re hard, I’m handling them well because I was so eager".

A month of pre-season in Los Ángeles de San Rafael is, to Borja, "hard, because it’s a long time to be concentrated. But, on the other hand, you have time to know your new teammates. The Indian teammates are already telling us things about life in their country and what we’ll find there, how they live football... When we get there, it won’t be such a big impact. This is an intermediate step to make acclimatisation better”.

With respect to the team’s objective in the Indian Super League, the Spanish midfielder says, "they haven’t shared anything with us yet. At the moment, we’re preparing to do our vey best. We’re mentally prepared for the start on October 12th and the final to be played on December 20th, and we’re eager to get to that final".

Borja has an experience he’ll surely bring to Atlético de Kolkata. He points out, "I remember that in 2001 I started in Real Madrid’s first team and it’s been 13 seasons in the Spanish first division, and I want to keep going. A person is not so long at the top if they have no hope or wish to increase that experience. It’s my first experience outside of Spain and although I had offers to play in our country’s first division, I chose this project because I craved a new challenge football-wise. It’s possibly one of the last opportunities to go abroad and, why not something new for me to live? Being with several Spanish teammates outside our country, start a new League freshly created will be something interesting and that’s where we're at".