With punctuality as your priority, arrive early. Turn the interview into a relaxed chat: ask questions, ask and laugh. On the pitch he shows the same cheek and self-confidence as in the stands. “I’m outgoing, cheerful, I joke and make fun of people,” smiles Cata Coll (Pórtul, Mallorca; 24 years old). Her character catapulted her as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, undisputed starter for Barcelona and the Spanish team for two years. World and European champion, her showcase is impeccable. It stands out for its stops; but her forward dribbling makes her unmistakable. “My game is risky, I won’t deny it. But it’s what defines me. That’s why I became a goalkeeper: to feel like there’s no one behind you,” he confesses. He is fond of adrenaline and vertigo; criticism pushes him.
– Did they hang up? tweet with the criticism in the locker room?
– Before Madrid there was one.
And Cata, a declared anti-Madrid fan, smiles. For the Blaugrana it was an ambitious push ahead of Saturday’s classic. “It was a match we needed in terms of play and sensations. It was the best Real Madrid I faced. I think the result is not real,” he explains. Up to four goals were disallowed during the match, on which VAR intervened low cost implemented this year. “We are at the beginning and we will have to be patient, but for how long? I have the impression that a lot of time is wasted. When it started, 16 minutes were added to some matches; it’s like going to extra time”, complains Cata. The Majorcan was the absolute protagonist on Saturday: her one-on-one saves and a shot from eleven meters towards Caroline Weir saved the match from a 4-0 deficit.
Regarding the controversy over whether it was a penalty or not, Cata is clear: “I stopped it because it wasn’t a penalty. I’ve seen it many times. I think I don’t touch her, Ona (Batlle) a little and (Athenea) lets herself fall.” It wasn’t the only dispute about the action: it was commented that it wasn’t on the goal line. “I watched the replay, because it surprises me, given that I almost never take the lead. The commentators said I was ahead. I don’t know if you know the rule: if I jump, but in line, I don’t have to repeat it. I laughed at home. I always watch the replayed games to decide. That whole story about the penalty I take, that if I were ahead… I’ll write it down, and the next game”, says Cata.
His charismatic personality wanders between tranquility and determination. Able to sleep 10 hours or take a nap before an important appointment, she can’t sit still for an hour at home. But under the chopsticks his serenity comes out of his pores. She fantasizes about taking a penalty and feels relaxed when she has to save it. “What do I have to lose?” he asks. “Nothing,” he replies immediately. “You wait for him to score. And if the goalkeeper stops it, it’s a save. But the normal thing is not to stop him: whoever kicks goes two seconds before you, because he knows where he’s going to shoot,” he explains. He didn’t always relativize it with such simplicity, and he needed psychological work to improve. “I felt the responsibility of stopping him for the team. And obviously I want to stop him. But I’m not responsible if they score or not. Those who shoot have more to lose than those who stop”, he concludes.
Emotionally, one gesture helped him: pretending to smoke after a break. “If I made a good move, my arousal would increase so much that I would then make mistakes because of that excess. My psychologist and I agreed that I would do the gesture every time I did a good deed, because I would smoke it, and it no longer existed,” Cata shares. “We footballers have a facade when you play, because you feel indestructible,” he adds.
But there are also weaknesses. “Talking about my problems, with my people, with my friends, with my partner… is difficult for me. When something happens to me, I withdraw into myself and feel weaker in talking about it,” explains Cata. On the pitch the weakness is different: “When there are matches in which I don’t touch the ball for 90 minutes, it’s very hard. It’s a weakness, because I get very bored. I think I have to concentrate and I can’t. I start thinking about what I’ll do tomorrow, I look at the stands to see if anyone has come to visit me… It’s very difficult to concentrate for 90 minutes without doing anything. For me it’s much worse than saving a penalty or conceding one after one.”
His ambition, and that of the team, will be channeled this Thursday, in the match against Chelsea alloy of the Champions League, where Barcelona reigns first. An old acquaintance, Cata considers it a “classic”. But there will be one big absence: Hannah Hampton, the rival goalkeeper, injured. “I wanted to play against her,” Cata interrupts. Why? “What do you think?”
She was not referring to a personal vendetta after Hampton won the Yashin trophy over her at the Ballon d’Or gala as the world’s best goalkeeper despite winning 8-2 on aggregate in the semi-final. “She’s a great goalkeeper, one of the best in the world. She had a great European Cup – if it wasn’t for her, England wouldn’t have reached the final. And she had great seasons with Chelsea. She deserved it,” shares Cata. And he smiles, as if he had been waiting for months to have a microphone in front of him. Hampton, in an English podcast, assured that, during the penalty shootout of the final, the Barcelona player had tickets in the bottle, and that she grabbed it and threw it at the public, taunting them.. “It made me laugh. I don’t understand why she says that: there are cameras. If you lie they’ll catch you. You can see the bottle is there next to me. And the game ends, I take my towel, my bottle and I leave. She’s been caught.”
Beyond the controversy, Cata respects Chelsea’s level, a match that promises to be tough. But he trusts even more in his team, in ambition and in La Masia. And she has gained that her companions rely on her.
