Mariona Caldentey meets Guillem Balague

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

0:30Make your travel dollars work harder. Follow Smart Travel on your favorite podcast app. Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first, but didn't live up to the hype? Like those$5 roses at a gas station, or a second-hand piece of technology that breaks in the first 10 minutes? Marketers know that feeling. We optimize for the numbers that look great, impressions, reach, and reacts. But when they don't show revenue, well, that's a not-so-great conversation with the CFO. LinkedIn has a word for that. Bullspend. Now you can invest in what looks good to your CFO. LinkedIn ads generates the highest ROAS of all major ad networks.

1:11You'll reach the right buyers because you can target by company, industry, job title, and more. So cut the bullspend. Advertise on LinkedIn, the network that works for you. Spend$250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a 250 credit for the next one. Just go to linkedin.com slash broadcast. That's linkedin.com slash broadcast. Terms and conditions apply. This is the Football Daily Podcast on BBC Sounds. Welcome to a special edition of the Football Daily Podcast. I'm Guillem Balaguer and ahead of the Women's Champions League semifinals, I've had the pleasure of sitting down with Spain and Arsenal midfielder Mariona Caldente.

2:00After a hugely successful first season at Arsenal, she's hoping to make the final with them again. Just a small matter of eight-time winners Lyon standing in their way. We spoke about everything from her childhood in Mallorca, moving from Barcelona to the WSL, and of course the national team rivalry between, yes, England and Spain. You're listening to the Football Daily Podcast. from 5 Live Sports. Mariana, have you spoken English since you arrived to England from two weeks with the national site? No, I haven't spoken English yet, so it will be maybe a bit slow. Catalan? Yes, please. But if we do it in Catalan, I wouldn't understand you.

2:44Have you got a strong Mallorcan accent? I do, but I can speak Catalan as well. Ah, right. It's a Catalan accent. It's a beautiful accent, the Mallorcan accent. You're from a village called Felanich. What is it like? I mean, it's actually a big town. I think we have the name of city, but we just call it as a town. But it's, yeah, for me, it's the best place in the world. And is that near the sea in Mallorca? Yeah, we have Portocolom, which is like another town, but it belongs to Felanich, so it's everything. It's Felanich, but that's like the port of where we have all the beaches. and have you got many squares to play football as a kid or not?

3:28I did. I mean, I didn't need much, to be honest. I just play on the street, right, and the parks and so. Who gave you the first ball? That's a good question. I don't remember, but I could say I have an older brother and he was always playing football, so my guess would be I just probably stole one of them. Or joined them, no? Would you join them and play football with them, would you? Yeah, I did a lot with him and his friends, but four years, it's a big difference when you are a kid. So it was a bit hard. But I still tried. So what would that football game be at that time for you? Well, I joined a football team when I was four or five, I think, and we played the 5v5.

4:19It was just really fun and I made a lot of friends. And we actually were a quite decent team. We were champions of Mallorca and then champions of Spain, which was really big for a town team. So, yeah, we were successful when we were kids. So is that a girls team or a mixed team? No, it was a mixed team, but I was the only girl in the whole league, basically. So you were the best player of the team, of the league? I don't know. I was good, but I don't know if I was the best or not, to be honest. I don't think so. I think we had a pretty good team. And everybody felt natural. Nobody looked at if you were a girl or if you were good or you all wanted to play with each other.

5:05That's how you felt as a team? Yeah, I think I was really lucky because, you know, we are from a town, so sometimes that can be a bit... it's not like big city like London or Barcelona where maybe everything goes a bit more open quicker but for me and for them it was really natural like even when we play away I remember they were waiting outside the dressing room because we only had one dressing room so I always was the first one to get changed and then they came and they did it and then when we had to get shower they always wait outside and i was the first one i was quick i didn't make them to wait so long but yeah i just it was natural for us and it felt really good to be honest and did you hear very often give the ball to mariona i have a bad memory if i'm honest like i don't remember a lot from that time but i remember the the opponents saying like oh they have a girl and then after the game say well the girl plays good football that that's with the comment i i remember more sports psychologists say that there's some time when you are at that age at some point somebody looks at you with big eyes and saying oh my god you you're very good and very often you try to replicate that face on others and that's what keeps you going when you first start who would be the person that looked at you with those eyes and said wow you are good?

6:38Probably would say my dad, he was always on the football games and on trainings and he didn't really compliment me too much but he wasn't hard on me either he just like enjoyed watching me and yeah just let me playing and I think that was that was a good feeling like no pressure no expectatives like nothing just a girl playing football and having fun and at some point you have to you have to join a girls team or what age would that be yeah that was when I was 14 years old and then it was a rule where you can't play anymore with with the boys and that's a bit annoying yeah I would say so because then I joined a girl team but it was actually I was in the Coyarense that they were in the first league of the of Spain but I was 14 so I was not allowed to play in the first league until I was 15 then I had to play with the second team which was a really low league but then I actually did my ACL so I was the whole year well six seven months without playing and then when I recovered I could join the first team but then I was playing with women of 30, 35 years old.

8:03For now I don't think that's an old age but in that moment I thought wow they are old. So I was enjoying playing with my generation and people who has more things in common and I think that was a big step. And you went to Barcelona when you were 18. And that was a Barcelona that started changing history for us. What was it like? Yeah, when I joined the team, we weren't professional yet. They were successful winning already some leagues before I arrived, but it was not a professional team. And then actually the second year, they changed it and we became professional. The league was not professional, but our team was.

8:48So, yeah, then everything started to improve so much for us. The facilities, staff, like travel conditions, like salaries, everything. So it was a really, really nice process because, yeah, in the start, we needed to bring our water from home. We needed to wash the clothes at home. And then it was just change. I remember talking to Alexia Budejas about that period and how she had to grow a conscience, as in she realized that she had to fight for a lot of things that are given in men's football there's so many stories you mentioned some already you have to bring your own water you do your own washing but even later on you had you were wearing men's clothes until somebody pointed out it's like come on true yeah it's funny because these things kind of you you forget these things, right?

9:49And yeah, or even like we didn't have our name on our jersey or even our numbers. We just had it in the Champions League because it was mandatory. But then on the league, because in La Masia is a rule, we play if you were starting 1 to 11. And then if you were to the bench, 12 to 20. We didn't have our own numbers or names. So it was, yeah, so, so different. But then you ended up getting a lot of things that you needed and winning a lot as well. And you were one of many stars in that side. At what point do you think, like, I need to move on? I need to go somewhere else? I mean, it's a hard question because I'm a Barca fan.

10:35I had a really great time there and it was a dream for me to be there. But it was a hard time as well because I had a lot of injuries on my hamstring. Then I lost my dad and it was really hard for me mentally and with that injury, re-injury. And then I was fit again and we won everything. And then I thought, you know what, like now England football is actually growing so much after the Euros we played here. And I don't know the moment I start to think about it. but my last year of contract at middle season and stuff, when I had to make the decision, I thought maybe that's what I need now. And it's the moment.

11:23Our careers are so short and I start to get older. And it's really hard to explain, but it was just a feeling that now it's the time. And some of my closest friends in Barca were leaving as well. and I think it was just a crazy decision in that moment, probably when we were being successful, I was playing a lot, but now I can say that it was a good decision. Sorry to hear that your dad passed away. He was the person that, as you said earlier, saw you. Yeah. But he's still looking, isn't he? Yeah, for sure, for sure. So you get to Arsenal and then on that first season, people say you need to adapt to things, that your body needs to adapt, your mind needs to adapt.

12:09It's a new language, new culture. But it sounds like you were all right. Yeah, it's actually a lot of things, right? People just think, oh, you change club. No, but you change your whole life. And the culture, language, the way you play football, the style, everything changes. The teammates, your friends around, your family are not next to you anymore. The sun is not here. The food is different. It's a lot of things. Like, you need to adapt. And it was hard for the first months, but everyone helped me so much as well and made it easy for me. And, yeah, then it just clicked and it worked. So it was a great season.

12:54And the years of Fife Aside, where you played in different positions, meant that when you came to Arsenal and they asked you to play differently, you managed to adapt, no? What was the transition into new roles? for me I have always been playing around and changing position like my last year in Barca I played as a striker as a number nine a fake nine of course but I was never a striker before and the last season I was nine then now I'm playing almost a six so it's a big change but I just love football I think I understand how the game goes and that yeah I just want to be on the ball and make the tempo bit of the game and yeah changing position but the role was similar so i needed time i needed to work a lot on my defensive side because that was that was different but yeah you know when you are in that flow and it just it's working and that's how we enter the season last year i heard you say that uh you're just training playing whatever success And then at the end, you start getting the accolades and the awards, the individual awards.

14:04Oh, all right. We must have done well. Did it really feel like that? Yeah, it's like when you are in the rhythm of the season, you don't really think about that thing. You just go game to game. And it's every three games. You don't really have time. Football goes so quick for good and bad. Like what you did yesterday, it's gone already. So, yeah, I didn't expect it, to be honest. I was happy with my performance. I was happy with myself how everything went, but I didn't expect all that trophies, and it was nice. Very nice. So, kind of the Ballon d 'Or, that must have been something else. It was special, yeah.

14:41It was really nice. Have you got a picture of the night somewhere in your wall, in your house? No, no, no. I will someday probably, but not yet. One of the rich things of actually going to another country is that you absorb the culture without even realizing. But I guess the other way, it also works. So have you introduced any traditions, Spanish traditions into the changing rooms? I would say we play some music in Spanish at the girls' loft. Rosalia. Rosalia, Bad Bunny. Yeah, a bit of everything. Cody. Cody chose more than made the music, to be honest. And we just teach some Spanish words to them that we always joke.

15:24Like, I don't know if I will speak good English, but for sure some of you will speak better Spanish. So, yeah, I think Spain and Spanish is an interesting culture. Like, everyone wants to know and everyone wants to learn. So it's easy for the girls. Talking about bringing things, have you brought a piano yet? I actually bought a new one, like, some months ago, but haven't played that much. Who taught you the piano, played piano? My grandmother. Yeah, when I was a kid and I went to have lunch at her house every day between the school and she just teach me. But I have no idea like about music. I just play.

16:08Was she a teacher or she played a piano? No, but she was just really good on the piano and she had one piano at home. And I think, you know, all of us, my cousins, the boys, all of them play football. And the two girls are younger than me. And music was not really in us. And I think my grandma was a bit sad with that. Everyone just with the sport and no one is into music. So I think she tried a bit with everyone. And with me worked a bit. You're listening to the Football Daily Podcast from Five Live Sports. Five Live Sports. So here's the first ball of this series. All the cricket you love. Check for LBW.

16:50Ouch. Lives on BBC Sounds. Smash straight back down the ground, this girl. Hear ball-by-ball coverage of the biggest competitions on the domestic and international circuits. It's a fourth week and it's the huge one. Jeez. Settle down, I'm sorry. Cricket on Five Live Sport. Oh, I've lived every ball of this. Listen on BBC Sounds.

17:15This is the Football Daily Podcast from Five Life Sports. Let's come back to the changing room where you are now. Anybody that really surprised you, that you thought, I didn't know you were like this, positively, but wow, it's like, didn't expect you to be this good, or didn't expect you to be this leader, or didn't expect you to be so important? No, if I'm honest, I didn't have any expectations because personally I didn't know that much teammates before I joined Arsenal. But I could say with Kim, she's a different leader. I think she's quiet and she's so calm and relaxed, but she's unique in the way she leads the team.

18:00And in the beginning I was a bit like, she's the captain and she's a bit quiet, right? But then, yeah, everyone just respects her so much. And she does her job in a different way, maybe what I was used for a cup time. But she surprised me. But I think she's a big leader for us. She sounds like somebody else a little bit. I wish. The quietness, no? The hobbleness. Yeah, she's even quieter than me, I would say. One of the things that you must have been surprised, pleasantly surprised, the fact that the stadium gets full, that you play in the Emirates. What's that like? No, it's crazy. I remember the first times I went there, it was so emotional.

18:47I had goosebumps and now it's fun. It's funny because now it's just normal. So you just get used to the good things so quick. And now going to the Emirates and playing in front of almost full stadium every game, it's almost our new normal thing, you know, and it shouldn't because it's not normal what we have here in Arsenal, but it's something really special from the club. And it sounds from the outside that it is a special club. This being one of the reasons, the atmosphere that gets created in the games, how they treated you and your team. Would you say that that's the case? Yeah, 100%. I think the culture in the club, like the Arsenal way, how we want to play, how we want to connect with the fans, with the community, I think the club works a lot in that small things out of the pitch.

19:44And I think that's what makes Arsenal really special. That attraction to Arsenal, but also to the league, has brought more and more Spaniards this way. What do you think we add to the league and to the teams? I think technically Spanish players are probably the biggest thing we have. because probably that five against five we play when we are young or I don't know, but the tiki-taka style we try to play in Spain, I think that's what can be different for us with the rest of the world. It's just that you may want to do that, but when it's box to box, you have to have a common ground. Have you, you know, you have to work at that, no?

20:29Yeah, I think I always had it in me as well. I actually was a centre-back until I was 13 or 14 years old. So, yeah, of course you have to improve and you have to learn, but I think these things make you a better player. So I was happy to train it and to improve, and then for sure it will help me, so it will help the team. Do you notice it when you go back to the national side, that there's been a jump, perhaps even in recognition from your teammates, maybe? No, like I always felt they really respected me and they support me and they evaluate me. So now it's different. It's just like we are so happy to see each other because before we had each other every day and now it's like when we see each other after one month or two months, it's really exciting.

21:23But the football way, like we have been playing together for really long. So we know each other. we know what we can offer, we know we help each other to be better and that hasn't changed at all. But my perception of it is that you're bigger, that somehow the team has turned a little bit more towards you, that you want the ball a bit more, that perhaps you offer a little bit different rhythm. Would that be right? I don't know. I mean, I think it gave me confidence for sure because, yeah, it was something different and how I said in Spain we have a really clear way that we want to play and I feel that when we go back to the national team but I know now I'm ready to play another game if it's what we need and I know for example my Barca friends they attack the whole time, they dominate the whole time so they don't really feel comfortable when they don't have the ball and that's how I felt when I arrived here and I think that's something I had to learn like it's fine sometimes you defend more sometimes you don't have to ball sometimes whatever and I think that was a bit frustrating for me at some points and now with the time I still want to attack the whole time and have to ball but sometimes it has to be okay like that as well and that's maybe the difference I feel when I'm back to Spain.

22:49It's a good thing to add to your armour. You helped Arsenal to win the first European title in 18 years. What do you think the fans want more? The Premier League or being historic in Europe as you've been at the moment? I guess if we ask them they will probably say both. If we don't have to choose we want to win everything. But yeah, it was really special for the club how you said it was a long long time ago. But I mean I want to win a Premier League as well and I hope it will come. That final was against Barcelona must have felt a bit strange. It was really weird. It was a lot of feelings. I'm normally not nervous about football games even if it's finals but this day was special.

23:39At halftime did you went to the right changing room? Of course I did. I was just in my head like I would like to say hi to the girls before the game starts. Then it's done. But it didn't happen because we arrived earlier, then they arrived late. It didn't work. And then it was just in the tunnel the first time I saw them. So it was a bit strange. But, I mean, it's football. Then once we start to play, you just focus on your team and on your mission. And then you try to forget a bit about everything else. Who knows? It may be a similar final. but before that you got Lyon and what do you see in the game?

24:21I mean, it was last year with the extraordinary comeback. You don't need a comeback. You don't want to need a comeback. No, exactly. I have a lot of respect for Lyon because it has been a big opponent for a lot, a lot of years. Like in Barcelona, we couldn't beat them for long. So I have my biggest respect for them. They have a really strong team and now they have a Spanish coach and some Spanish staff that I know really well, that I know they are a really, really good staff and I believe that they are going to make that team better for sure. So if you have good players and you have a good coach, that's a dangerous combination to have.

25:04Is it fair to say that the four teams in the semifinals are the four best teams in Europe, not only in the competition? It is, because it's the four teams who made it. But it's cool because it's one team from each big league in four different countries. So it will be interesting semifinals, for sure. All of us want to be in that final in Oslo. So it will be hard. That goal against Lyon that you scored must have been one of your favourites, perhaps? Yeah. I was always like the coaches and teammates you need to shoot more, you always look for the pass you need to finish more and I agree, I don't feel like I'm a goal scorer a killer or something like that so I don't really have the goal on my mind in that way so I think I have to finish more because then sometimes work like that and feel really good so it was really a big goal It was on the edge of the box, controlled with the right, and then you saw the chance to shoot, and that just went top right corner.

26:15The goalkeeper didn't even move. It just felt... From the moment you hit it, it must have gone like, yep, that's going in. It feels good. You know, when it's going in, yeah, it was a strong shot. I think that's why the goalkeeper couldn't react, and there was a lot of people in front. So, yeah, you have to try if you want to score, for sure. If you don't, should you want to score? And it feels like now you hit the right form, that these shots may just go in, because you all seem to be in the flow. Most of the players seem to be in a good form at the moment at Arsenal. Yeah, I think the start of the season was a bit inconsistently from us.

26:56And yeah, we had some draws in the league and we lost in the Champions League phase. But I think since Christmas we have, yeah, I don't know, everything is just in the flow. How you say it's working and we are in a good place. So hopefully we can. Now we are back from national team. So we need to a bit reconnect again and recharge with each other. But I think we are in a good momentum and we'll try to use that in that semifinals. I think if I ask any of your teammates in a moment of difficulty, who would you give the ball to? I think I know the answer. But who is it for you that will actually be looking for a solution?

27:39I think we have different profiles. You know, if, for example, we have a space in the back, I know Stina or Caitlin, they will win every duel and every ball in there. And then if it has to be a bit more on the feet to protect, you know, have less, it's just so hard to give the ball away. and again with Kim, it's really good how she protects the ball with the body. You can see she barely loses the ball. So I think it depends a bit what we want, but we have a lot of different profiles that give a lot to us. This season you're doing very well in the Champions League. We already talked about the accolades and the individual trophies last year, but this year it's also working very well for you too.

28:29Yeah, I think Champions League, like, it's just a special competition and it's not a long tournament. You just have to be good that day at that time. And I think that's what we are good at. Sometimes we have a bit of that lack of consistently, but I think then in the days we have to be ready. We are ready. And I hope it goes the same way this year. And actually, to win the Champions League, All you have to do is to put a Mariona in the team. You just keep winning it. No, I think that's a bit unfair with all the Lyon players. They have won like eight times the Champions League. But you've won it four times.

29:11Four times. I've won it four times with two different teams. I mean, it's something really big and I'm really proud of it. But some players are still like tougher than that. But it's the dream, isn't it, for any player? Yeah, I think Champions League is just so special for everyone. And it's so hard to win because every big team wants to win it. So, of course, it's a big challenge. And how I said, you have one bad day and you might be out. And with that Lyon times where they dominate, Parse time they dominate, it was hard for other teams to be there. and I think now it's really close and everyone can win it and everyone is ready to performance in that high level.

30:02So you haven't trained yet since you came back from... Okay, so obviously there's going to be talk about the defeat against England. And also I have to let you go soon because you have to get to the... What is it? The video analysis? Yes. And if you're late, what happens? I have to sing. So I don't want to sing. You can sing Berghain from Rosalia. I can sing. But, yeah, so there'll be talk about... It's the rivalry of our times, isn't it? England and Spain. There's something wonderful about it for people like you and me who live there and who want to beat England. But it's a healthy rivalry, you say?

30:44For me, yes, because, of course, I know both sides. I know for other situations. it's maybe a bit different but I mean we lost but it's not done yet we need to have the second game at home so it's nothing definitely yet so we don't need to, we can't speak about that yet because it's not done we all know that it's not done but by saying it like that it's like calm down, calm down woman it's not done yet, is that what you're going to be saying in 10 minutes? I don't think the girls will say much about that game. All right. Because it's already gone, you know, and it's lovely to play Spain, England, because I think it's one of the best games you can have.

31:30And we enjoy to play against each other, but we don't enjoy it, you know. But I mean, the girls are so respectful in that sense. Maybe Beth will make some jokes about it, but I would say it's just not done yet. So having won and lost and won and lost in finals with them, it still feels like it hasn't turned into a, I don't want to say the word toxic, but like a hard rivalry. It still feels like it's a sporting competition with people that you know with and in some cases colleagues. So that's the feeling of it still. Yeah, and I think like all the games we have played, the difference in goals, it has been just one goal down or up but it has always been so tight so I think that we know that Spain knows that England know that that so it's it's just equal games every time I think last time we didn't have a good game but we were still close I think we could have a score we deserve maybe a draw but then they maybe some game didn't play that well and they still managed to win and it's a bit the winning mentality both teams have.

32:42I thank you for winning the World Cup because every time I hear, ah, we win the Euros, we win the World Cup. Yeah, then you take the Euros. Exactly, we have the World Cup. So you're playing the return of that fixture in the group stage in Somos. And so how many of you people are going to be there? Everybody. A lot, a lot. I haven't played in Mallorca for 12 years, maybe. So everyone is so excited about it, and me too, for sure. Do you think it will be close to fill the stadium? I hope that. I think we are four Mallorcan girls in the Spanish national team normally, so I think there are a lot of people waiting to see us playing because they don't really have the chance normally.