Gila: Barcelona Wanted to Sign Me But Hesitated Because They Thought I Wasn't Composed

AC Milan defender Mario Gila attended an interview at the Trento Sports Festival organized by La Gazzetta dello Sport. This article is the fourth part of that interview.

Speaking of teammates, there is one who truly set an example – Luka Modric. Interestingly, in your career, you made two appearances for Real Madrid's senior team. By coincidence, AC Milan's current coach, Ancelotti, was the one who promoted you for your senior debut. So perhaps joining AC Milan was truly destiny. When you appeared twice for Real Madrid's senior team, Modric, who was then the absolute cornerstone and pillar of Real Madrid's midfield, had already been sidelined. Therefore, you only got to play alongside Luka Modric for the first time after arriving at AC Milan!

Yes! Clearly, it was all destiny (laughs). Indeed, in my final season at Real Madrid, I trained with the senior team for three or four periods. Fortunately, I made my debut, and Ancelotti gave me the opportunity. I was truly delighted at that time. But on the pitch in official matches, as you said, I couldn't play alongside him. However, in daily training, you could really feel his greatness and extraordinary talent. Actually, he and I shared a funny experience from when I was very young.

Yes, you were very young back then...

Yes, that year I, as a young player from Castilla, joined the senior team for combined training. At that time, I didn't hold back on the training pitch; I was very aggressive in my challenges and didn't know how to control my tackles. During senior team training, I was like a reckless troublemaker, completely unaware of the need to protect the senior players – after all, you have to be very careful with top players.

Because they are key players!

At that time, I made several hard tackles on Rodrygo during training. Modric kept complaining from the sideline, and even Ancelotti himself came to me and said, "Listen, Modric is reminding you, take it easy with your actions, learn to protect your teammates." I still tease him about it now, and he just laughs. If it were now, he would definitely scold me on the spot, but back then, I was just a young academy kid.

But he is truly a remarkable person; you can see how noble he is now. His help to us, both on and off the pitch, is immeasurable. He is a true spiritual leader, giving everything to lead us on the pitch, and even more so off the pitch. Seeing his humility truly touches you. You know, many players become arrogant after achieving success, but he, as a Ballon d'Or winner who has won six Champions League titles, is always so calm and humble. To play alongside him and learn from him is truly extraordinary.

You just recalled your debut, and the audience also gave warm applause to Modric, who truly deserves it! You just spoke about the beginning of your career at Real Madrid. You were born in Barcelona, but your professional football career started at Real Madrid – first in Raúl's Real Madrid B team, and then the two appearances we just discussed in Ancelotti's Real Madrid senior team. However, Real Madrid later decided to transfer you to Lazio. Given that Barcelona has one of the best La Masia academies in the world, why did Barcelona miss Mario Gila back then? And why did Real Madrid later make the same mistake by letting you go?

Back then, I was just an ordinary person. Honestly, although I played quite well and had good grades at school, I was a bit mischievous and tended to cause trouble.

Haha, we certainly couldn't tell!

Yes (laughs), I still occasionally cause a bit of trouble. I really started to feel like a professional player after I went to Espanyol's youth academy, and then I went to Real Madrid. But Barcelona never formally contacted me at that time; they always hesitated. From what I heard, they might have thought my personality was a bit rebellious and restless, whereas Real Madrid was completely different; Real Madrid very clearly wanted me to join. At that time, we didn't hesitate at all.

And I have to say, even with Barcelona at my door, it was very hard to say "no" to Real Madrid during that period. Because Barcelona was in decline at that time, while Real Madrid was in excellent condition, so it was difficult to refuse Real Madrid's invitation. After that, I spent four wonderful years at Real Madrid: one year in the youth team, three years in the B team. Then I went to Lazio because Real Madrid felt I needed to make my own way outside their system. Then I came to AC Milan, and I am very happy about that, without any regrets at all.

Everyone is happy, you are happy, the club is happy, everyone is very satisfied...

Yes, yes, it really is very good, I am very happy.

When you played for Lazio, your coach was Sarri – a very unique coach with distinctive tactical characteristics. From Rome to AC Milan, from Sarri to your current coach, what differences have you felt?

Everything is different!

Really?

Whether it's the city or the coaching style, everything is very different. But he really taught me a lot, he really taught me a lot. It was very difficult under him at first, truly difficult, and he himself knows it. But that was the crucible necessary for my career; as a player, that is the tempering I deserved. Because at that time, he gave me the chance to play, but I didn't make the most of it in a few matches. So he decided I wasn't ready and barely played me for some time. But I have to thank him, and thank that difficult period; it really helped me grow and taught me to understand and evaluate every detail in a match.

Then we rebuilt our trust, and I played a much more important role in the team last season. He is a remarkable person, a truly great coach. Although on the pitch he looks very strict, tough, and even a bit stubbornly rigid, demanding extreme precision. If you talk about the differences between him and Amorim, there are so many: Sarri is more focused on very detailed tactical setup and formation structure; while Amorim prefers the team to press forward aggressively. You might not control the flow of the match or the score in a rigid and absolute way, but they are two completely different styles. As I said, these are two completely different experiences, but both have been very beneficial to me and helped me grow quickly.

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