#being able to appreciate beautiful Barcelona like this is the best part of my job 💜

[vasattope]

Barceloneta Beach, Barcelona, Spain.

[all-about-cr7]

MARCA interview after receiving the ‘MARCA Leyenda’ award

- my translation -

Q: You have won almost everything in your career. Do you feel satisfied with everything you already achieved?  “I changed a bit last year because I left Madrid, I needed extra motivation in my career after winning what I won in Madrid. I needed a change in order to be able to express my football because I think I still have a lot to offer: to me, the fans, Juve, and I'm sure it will go on like this. I still feel motivated and I like what I do. Of course, what I like most is winning titles. Last year, thank God we won three: Coppa Italia, Italian league and Nations League with Portugal, so it was a top year.”

Q. I can't imagine how the CR7 Museum is, does it have space for more trophies? “The museum is very good, if there is no space, we’ll work for more. We cannot leave out any, Some trophies are more important than others, but we have room for all of them, Ballon D’Or, Best Player, Golden Shoe, Pichichi, whatever. As I always say to my friends: a trophy is a trophy.”

Q. What does winning the MARCA Leyenda award mean to you? “It is a very important prize that only legends can win and obviously it had to be Cristiano too. After what I have done in my career, especially at Real Madrid, it is a great honour to receive it and I want to thank MARCA for giving me this opportunity and receiving it here in Madrid. I am very happy to return here to Spain and Madrid.”

Q. Sarri said that you have freedom on the pitch, what do you think? “It is a way of expressing oneself, but obviously that will not be the case because there is a team concept and I have a job: to cover spaces, set pieces ... I will do the same things I was doing at Madrid or in my first year with Juve or in the national team. I will defend, close spaces, being an attacker with freedom but with defensive work too because only a team with everyone working together can win important things.”

Q. You said you would play until 40. Do you still think like that? “I am not worried at all in that regard because it will depend a lot on what I feel, on my motivation, because physically it will never be a problem. Up to 40 you have to take care about yourself well and I think it won’t be the most important factor, honestly. It is more the psychological aspect that will make a difference. I hope that nothing happens until 40, but if something happens, that’s just the way it is. Life is like that, everything has a beginning and an end, so Cristiano is not going to last a lifetime, logically, but I still feel strong to keep winning important things.”

Q. Can this be the year of Juventus? “It is always the year of Juventus, of Madrid, of Barça, when only one club can win a competition like the Champions League. I give you the example of Barcelona: how much money have they invested in players in the last five years and didn’t win the Champions League. That’s not how it works. Juve has been reinforced very well and it is a team that will fight to win titles, as always, but this will depend on many factors: the groups, the moment, the injuries, the luck ..  But as I always say: do not obsess with the Champions League. Juve will win it, if not this year, hopefully it will be next year, in two years, considering the way they work, how they are planning. All the ingredients are there to win it.”

Q. Did Buffon talk with you about about winning the Champions League? “He hasn't told me anything about that. We talked because he is someone I’ve admired since we had faced each other many times and he told me he was very happy that we are together now. I told him the same thing because in my opinion he is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, if not the best. Buffon, Casillas, are goalkeepers who will remain in football history. I am very happy to be together with him because he is a five star man.”

Q. Have you missed Madrid this past year? “I was living here for nine years, a part of my story happened in Madrid and I don't talk only about football because everybody knows that, but about relationships in general, my children, Cristianito, I met my girlfriend here. There are many stories that cannot be erased, the past doesn’t just get turned off. That's why I still have a house here, I come here from time to time, looking after the hotel, the hair clinic, the gyms, friends too. It is a city that I love and I will always come here. I don't rule out living here again one day at all.”

Q: With whom do you spend more time at Juve? “The Juve group is top, it was a surprise for me. I thought it was different, that everyone just cares for themselves, but that’s not the case. The truth is that it is a very good group, very united and I get along well with everyone. Logically it is easier with the Portuguese or the Spanish, with whom I speak more, but I get along well with everyone.”

Q. And who do you miss in Madrid, maybe Marcelo? “Marcelo is very happy here in Madrid, Everyone leads his life and I always got along very well with him. I talk a lot with him, with Casemiro, with Pepe, Coentrao, I got along very well with everyone. Marcelo is a very lively boy and I miss him.”

Q. And who do you think would fit into Juve? “Top players always fit into big teams and of course Madrid has an excellent team, they have invested a lot of money, new players and for sure they will have a very good season. I am not going to tell you names although obviously some would fit in, but I am very happy with the Juve team, we reinforced ourselves very well and we have a great staff, with very good people also on the bench. If you ask Hazard in Madrid he will say the same about his team. I will express appreciation for my team because I also believe that it is a very competitive and excellent team.”

Q: How do you see Barça?  “Like every years, I see them very strong. They have been reinforced very well with De Jong, Griezmann, like last year with Coutinho, Dembelé ... It’s always one of the best teams in the world. The same applies for Madrid, with Hazard, Jovic, Mendy ... Juve too ... I am aware of Madrid because I have left a legacy there, I have left friends, it is the club with which I have won the most things and I am 100% sure that they will have a great season.”

Q. There is a lot of talk about Neymar, do you see him in Barcelona? “I don't know, he's a great player and I get along very well with him. We had a video shooting together recently. But there is a lot of talk about him, that he is going to Madrid, Barça, Juve ... This is the job of the press because they want to sell, but I think that he will stay in Paris and if not, may he look where he is happy and where he can express his great football, may he have no injuries, not a lot of trouble and no worries. I worry for him because I like to see the boy playing. Regardless of where he will play, may he take care of himself and have no injuries, that's what I wish for him.”

Q. Tell me your three favourites for the Champions League. “Always the same, regardless of whom they sign: Madrid, Barça, Atlético, Juve, Bayern, Liverpool ... I may have forgotten to mention some, but I really see it as usual. Barça and Madrid, who spent more money than everyone else, City too, are perhaps the favourites, but in football not always the favorites do win.”

Q. Have you played an important role in the signing of De Ligt? “I don t think so. I like it that you ask me that question because after the end of the Nations League match I made a remark out of companionship, as a footballer, because everyone does that. It is normal because he is 19 years old and everything remains on the pitch. I said it (’come to Juve’) jokingly but I would never influence a coach or a manager regarding signings. But the truth is that I am happy that De Ligt is with us.”

Q. Do you see yourself living in Madrid one day? “Sure! As I said before, Madrid is a city that we all love and I don’t rule it out. Now I am focused on Italy and Juve and we are all very happy, but you never know. In this city we have lived very beautiful moments and of course I could come here to live. We'll see. Now let's think about enjoying the moment, the present.”

MARCA title “History at his feet”

[thegreateuropeanadventure-blog]

First Steps

Right then, the Great European Living Adventure begins! But where do we start? I forgot to mention in the intro that the reason we wanted to apply for my husband’s Italian Citizenship in Australia is because there is a TEN YEAR QUEUE to get in the Italian Consulate in Brazil, yes… TEN YEARS. The second best option is going straight to Italy to get it. There’s a lot of information about going there by yourself to apply, but there are a few complications, the main one being finding a place to rent with a proper contract so you can declare you reside there, and the second one speaking at least basic italian to be able to communicate with the people in the “Comunes”. The first issue is easily solved if you know someone living there that allows you to stay at their place and declares that you live there, which we don’t. And the second one could have been solved by a few Italian lessons over the years, which we didn’t do either. Given those circumstances we’ve decided to hire an agency that helps you during the process. It’s said to be much more costly than to do it by yourself but the margin of error is much smaller, plus the whole process is quicker because they are prepared and have gone through the procedure many times. Trust me, if it were for me I’d give it a go the adventurous way and figure it out there, but since I’m not the one applying I can only stay in Europe for 90 days, and because we’ve got “after-plans” we really can’t afford going through all our savings in round one, not that we have that much saved up anyway. We need quick and cost effective.

We’ve been researching many different agencies, because there are a lot of them and not all of them are very good. In this case we’re relying on reviews and references. And after a while of searching and emails back and forth (not so many coming back though), we have nailed it down to two agencies that work for us. One is a highly recommended and available agent called Tiago Pratti, he hasn’t been very prompt in his responses over emails, but reviews and references point out that he can get the job well done, I imagine once you put some money on the table the wheel starts turning. His service is slightly more expensive than the average, going for 3200 euros, plus some extra fees at the end of the process. This includes his revision of the documents, his supervision and guidance throughout the whole process, plus accommodation for up to 90 days until the process is finished, and he works from a small town in Northern Italy called Trentino which seems like a beautiful place surrounded by mountains. The second option is a woman who answered all of our emails with very detailed answers which we really appreciated since no other agency seemed to answer any of our questions. She isn’t as established as Tiago Pratti, but she’s doing a very good job it seems, she has many positive reviews from people who got their citizenship with her. Her service fee ranges in between the affordable and expensive agencies at 2800 euros, just there we’d save 400 euros from the bat if we were to go with her for the process, this includes the same things as Tiago Pratti, but she’s based at Pavia, which is a town close to Milan which is isn’t as exciting to me as Tiago Pratti’s location, but it still seems like a nice place and maybe there’s more to it that meets the eye right now. Due to the price and great communication, we are nearly set on doing the citizenship process with the woman.

We are both working at the moment, so we have to plan our leave carefully. My husband has one month of holidays in June so this is our starting point, he should go to Italy to start the process with or without me, whichever option we figure out works best financially for us, and then we can figure out when I come in. I don’t have holidays but I’m not a registered employee so I can leave without much notice.

We managed to get a copy of the Italian birth certificate of my husband’s grandfather from Italy, a friend of my mom who speaks Italian called the Comune where he was registered and helped us figure it out. But this was a while ago so we need to be careful with the emission dates of the documents because they usually only accept documents with 6 months or a year of emission. This was one of the most complex documents to get in our heads, so getting it out of the way quickly felt good.

Other than that, we had a couple of things to figure out, like my husband’s Great Grandfather’s name was Luiz in one document and Luigi in another. The woman from the agency told us there was no problem, because it is a portuguese adaptation of the name and they usually don’t have any trouble with that. The other issue we have is that my husband’s grandfather was married to another woman before being with his grandmother, so we are unsure if we need to get their marriage and divorce certificate even if it’s irrelevant to the family line. We are still waiting on answers about this.

This trip is a double challenge because we need to focus on two completely different parts, first the Italy part an then the actual living there starting from scratch part. For starters we need to decide where we are going to live once he gets the citizenship. My first option was Barcelona, because I have family there so it’d give me some backup, but after thinking about it, Spain isn’t at its best right now, there’s an economic crisis, the unemployment rate is high, plus Catalans can be really rude as far as my experience in Barcelona went. And Spanish would only get me too far, before being confronted with Catalan in my studies, so if I’m gonna be in the need to learn a new language Catalan isn’t that exciting for me. But then we thought of the Netherlands, my husband’s first choice of country to live in Europe. Stable economy, very low employment rates, very high quality of life, healthy active lifestyle, cycling as a main mode of transport, very close to Belgium and Germany, low cost of living compared to other countries, higher education in English and at affordable rates, plus they have Albert Heijn’s Supermarkets (one of the coolest supermarkets I’ve ever been to! hahaha). The Netherlands is a great contender. The only flip side I can think of is the complex Dutch language, but I’m not too worried about that, I’m pretty good at learning new languages, I can’t say the same thing for my husband but he’s not too shabby either, he’ll get it sooner or later. I’ve been wanting to study Electronic Engineering for a while now and I’ve already found a few universities there that have that degree in English and it’s very affordable for EU residents, so the idea of moving to Holland is filling in all of my checklist of what makes a great place to live in. As far as my residence permit as spouse of a EU citizen it takes 3 to 6 months after applying, and it’s a relatively simple process, you need to prove marriage and financial support. Those 3 to 6 months can be complex because it means 3 to 6 months without being able to work. My husband on the other hand can work straight away but he usually takes a bit longer to find a job and so forth so we need to plan ahead for that. We’re not dead set in the Netherlands yet but it’s a good alternative.

Maybe we could kind of wing it, go to Italy and see where we feel like going after the process is done, one step at a time. I could take Italy with calm and go do an Italian course so I can accompany the whole process. Take it slow, no rush. Enjoy the journey.

That’s all we’ve got for you so far, but we’re on it focused and determined. Drop a comment if you have any questions!