Playing on Christmas Eve, New Years Eve and 3 Kings Day

Carlos Cuéllar . 3-enero-2018

Hi !

Let me start the year telling you how different Christmas days are here in Israel, especially when you are a footballer. Due to schedule reasons this year we had to play on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve at 18.00.

We will also play on the 5th of January, so whenever I arrive home I think the 3 Kings will be just about to give all their presents. In spite of sounding weird, Hebrews don’t celebrate these special days as we do back in Spain. I spent Christmas Eve in some friend’s house. Kiryat Shmona has 25,000 citizens aprox. so everything is very near. The dinner was curious because among us were people from Israel, a Spaniard, a Dutch, a Portuguese and an Ivory Coast man ! A good mixture of people and food from everywhere, and I took the Spanish wine and Tortilla myself !

On the 31st of December, we played at home and to be honest, getting defeated on the last minutes after being ahead nearly all match left be with bad vibes until dinner time. After 15 years as a professional, I still go mad when I lose, especially when the team is ready and fit to get the 3 points. I can also tell you that with years I’ve learnt to relativize defeats and learn from them. I make conclusions when I survive the initial bad humour and I share them with my teammates. That night, still a bit upset about the 1-2, I went to have diner with teammates and their families. There were no grapes or anything, you know that is very Spanish, but I’m used to that for having spent so many years in United Kingdom.

‘Playing on Christmas Eve, New Years Eve and Three Kings Day’. My blog on @MARCAinENGLISH ?? https://t.co/jXb4OGTLlP

— Carlos Cuellar (@Cuellar24) 3 de enero de 2018

Speaking of which, I still follow Aston Villa every day and I still think they will get promoted at the end of the season. Those two wins with which the team ended the year make me optimistic although I know that it is a very complicated tournament. It will be hard but they’ll get it ! I do not forget about my Glasgow Rangers neither, I saw the draw at the ‘Old Firm‘ and I wish all the best for them when Scotland’s competition returns.

In general I spend plenty of hours watching matches here, it’s not that winter is hard here as we have 15º degrees of average but I like to keep on watching football, to extract ideas. I also see La Liga, it’s very famous here, and I also see Second Division with Osasuna and Numancia performing quite well this season. That club is a true example of humbleness and seriousness. We sometimes speak about that in Israel, when they tell me to talk about Spanish football.

I say goodbye for now. We have a match to prepare and we need to win or win. I wish the 3 kings can bring us the 3 points ! 😉