Leo and Nico: two brothers, groguets from birth
Leo and Nico: two brothers, groguets from birth
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The Mezquita Galán brothers, residents of Vila-real, play in top teams of the Yellows academy

Love for Villarreal and passion for football almost since they were born. This is how we could define the lives of Leo and Nico Mezquita Galán, two brothers from Vila-real who play in the top teams of the Yellows academy. Leo, the oldest brother, plays in the U10’s team, while Nico has started his competitions this season in the U7’s team.

Both are fans and members of the Submarine and have practically grown up at the Ciudad Deportiva, where they spend four afternoons a week and Saturday mornings due to their sporting commitments, as well as watching Villarreal B and Villarreal Women’s matches at the Mini Estadi as fans.

“We are from Vila-real and have been members of the club all our lives. Their grandparents live 200 metres from the Ciudad Deportiva and they used to bring them from a very young age to play here instead of going to a park. They have grown up here. If one doesn’t train, the other trains and the brother comes to watch. On Saturdays they play their match and we also come to watch Villarreal Women or Villarreal B play”, says their father, Llorenç Mezquita, from whom they have inherited, to a large extent, their feeling for the beautiful game and for the yellow shirt.

Both of them are fans of Gerard Moreno, the idol of thousands of Villarreal fans, and also of the Mezquita brothers, although they have different characteristics to the first team striker on the pitch. According to Leo’s coach, Ferran Usó, also from Vila-real, the oldest of the Mezquita brothers “stands out above all for his handling of the ball. He has very good ball control, accurate close passing, changes of direction and a good right-footed shot, although his ability with his left foot also sets him apart.”

In addition, “he is very intelligent when it comes to moving in space and his vision of the game. From a very young age, he sees things on the pitch that are not typical of his age”, as the Groguet coach underlines. His father defines them in this way, “they are different characters because Leo is quiet, clever, a bit shy and has a lot of vision. On the other hand, Nico is pure nerve; he is a fiery player and that makes him very good as well.”

Despite not being pure strikers like their idol, both stand out for their goalscoring ability. Leo has scored 28 goals in his first 15 league games, while Nico has found the back of the net nine times in 14 regular competition games this season. “Leo is used a lot on the left wing because he uses both legs and they see that he can play on that side, although he also tends to play as a second striker and Nico, being a first year U7’S, still plays in many positions because the coaches are trying out different positions. He tends to play on the right wing, in the middle or as a striker,” says Llorenç Mezquita.

His weekends are almost exclusively dedicated to Villarreal and, on occasions, his parents have had to juggle things around to make sure he is playing football. “It’s complicated because both of us are involved in league competitions and other tournaments and we have to be apart. One goes with the father and the other with the mother. As Nico only plays one-day tournaments, when he finishes we go to where Leo is playing in his tournament and spend the night there,” confesses Mezquita.

Neither of the brothers has ever worn anything other than the yellow shirt, as they have belonged to Villarreal since the psychomotor stage, prior to the U7’s age group. In fact, Nico has always gone with his father to all of Leo’s training sessions and started kicking the ball around the Miralcamp 8-a-side football pitches, even before he was enrolled in this particular after-school activity. What Leo and Nico have in common is, without a doubt, pure groguet feelings.

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