Alessio, son of the legendary Villarreal goalkeeper, plays in goal for the Submarine’s U13’s team
Like father, like son. Mariano and Alessio: father and son with the same passion. The legendary goalkeeper defended the Villarreal goal in two stages and seven seasons and now his son does the same in the Yellow’s academy.
The Argentinian goalkeeper arrived in Vila-real when he was just 21 years old to play in a team that played in the Champions League, which allowed him to play against European giants such as Manchester United and Arsenal. Now, in his third spell at the club, he is one of the goalkeeping coaches at Villarreal B, while his son plays for the U13’s team.
“He has developed a lot as a goalkeeper over the years. He started at Villarreal after I came back to the club and started playing more seriously. The work they did with him in the academy helping him and giving him tips to improve has been noticed and he has developed a lot. He is doing quite well,” says Barbosa about his son.
According to the former footballer, “Alessio is a tall goalkeeper, with good reflexes and hand security and determined to go out for aerial balls, with good communication with his teammates and commanding voice and also in the game with his feet, which is so important in modern day football, all of this obviously with his day to day work to keep improving more and more.”
Alessio has recently made the step up to 11-a-side football, one of the hardest changes for any youth football player, but particularly for goalkeepers. His large wingspan can reduce the difficulty of this leap, although his father believes that there are other more important aspects: “What is most noticeable is the positioning, that’s why we have to work on them from a young age so that they know how to position themselves well and can make the goal a bit smaller, as at that age everything seems unreachable.”
From a very young age, Alessio was curious about being a goalkeeper, but only with the intention of enjoying himself. It wasn’t until his arrival in Vila-real that he began to take the beautiful game more seriously. “When we returned to the club, he already had his gloves and everything, but only to play with me to pass the time, but when he asked me to sign up to play, he took his gloves with him on the first day just in case and from there he took off. He didn’t have the concepts of the game internalised, but the work of the coaches has helped him a lot,” says the Champions League semi-finalist.
Despite having been one of the goalkeepers who will remain in the memory of Yellows fans for life, Mariano Barbosa prefers not to interfere in the work of the youth coaches: “When I can come, I try to film him, but I don’t give my opinion on the game. I don’t want to give my opinion too much because it’s difficult for your father to give you a criticism and take it well, especially having been a player. If he wants to talk about the game, we discuss it and I give him my point of view and we discuss whether we could have made another decision or if it was a good response on his part, but that is more the job of the coaches.”
“I always wanted to return to Villarreal”
Mariano Barbosa’s family is now fully settled in the municipality and the former goalkeeper is not the only one who accompanies Alessio to his matches. “When I travel with the B team, my father-in-law comes along. We are lucky to have ended up at the club where I wanted to be, as I always wanted to come back, and that my in-laws live here because my wife is from Vila-real and my father-in-law informs me about their matches.”
Now, Barbosa is training the future shotstoppers of the Estadio de la Cerámica, such as Iker Álvarez and Filip Jorgensen: “They are progressing enormously. Training with the first team makes you demand the maximum and to give 100% every day. They have evolved a lot despite being very young goalkeepers. The move to the First RFEF has also made them grow because it’s a difficult level. I hope they continue to stay there”, explains Barbosa about his goalkeepers.
Villarreal is an important part of the Barbosa family’s life and Mariano will always be part of a glorious part of the club’s history. Who knows if Alessio will do the same at the Submarine.
