Zabaleta's story: Albania, great experience

2023-05-26 16:14:51, Sport CNA

Pablo Zabaleta is undoubtedly one of the most famous Argentinian footballers who has played for years at the highest levels of European football. The famous former defender joined Silvinho's invitation to become part of the technical staff of the Albanian National Team in January and started a new journey with the red and black colors in the role of assistant coach.

While recounting his new experience, Zabaleta is impressed with everything he has found in Albania and hopes to continue here as long as possible, while pointing to the great work the technical staff has done in these first months.

"I have to say the journey has been incredible, we came with Silvinho for the first time here in January. It has been a beautiful experience to be honest, in every way. The new training complex, the offices, the city of Tirana, because we spend a lot of time here in Albania. Weather, good food, people have given us a great time in Albania. We hope to continue to enjoy this experience and we have a few games ahead of us, but the experience here so far has been very good.

We spend hours working in the office, watching the videos of the players, because we want to get to know the Albanian players even better. Before we came, we knew some of them, but we had to prepare a big list with the names of 40 or 50 players, not only those who play abroad, but also from the Albanian championship. So in the end you should have a final list of 23 or 26 players, but we keep a list of about 50 players under observation", - says the assistant coach of the National Team in an interview given to "Fshf.org".

Further, the Argentinian dwells on his debut with Poland and the impact he had on the Albanian players, appreciating the dedication and work done by the Red and Black team. For Zabaleta, it is very important to use what was built with hard work and strength in the March challenge to continue the preparations with the aim of improving for the two games in June, against Moldova and the Faroe Islands.

"We traveled to Italy, England or Spain to meet all the players and then when the Poland game came 10 days before the challenge we selected the 23 players we thought were right for that game. It was something very nice, we worked for at least 10 days with the players and it was wonderful. It is something different when you have the players here in Tirana, you work with them most of the time on the field, you are not all the time working in the office, and the interaction between the players and the technical staff before Poland was very good. Unfortunately, we didn't get a point against Poland, but I think our performance was very good.

Silvinho and all the staff were happy with the way the players performed against Poland, their behavior during the build-up was outstanding. And we start from what we built in the first game and now we are waiting to meet the players again, maybe there will be new faces, let's see. But the most important thing is to build something good for the players, for the technical staff, for the national team and for the Albanians", - emphasized Zabaleta.

Furthermore, he also has a message for the Albanian fans at a time when the National Team will very soon start preparations for the two very important matches in the Euro 2024 qualifiers. The assistant coach is convinced that Albania will make a good performance against Moldova and the fans will create a fantastic atmosphere.

"My message to the Albanian fans, I wish them to enjoy a beautiful match, we need them a lot, we need to create an atmosphere in the stadium. I watched the derby of the capital and some other matches in Albania, and I realized that the fans in Albania are similar to those in Latin America, very passionate about football.

If we create a nice atmosphere for the game against Moldova at home, it would be fantastic for our players and of course we have to put in a good performance to get the three points because at the end of the day the points are more important than anything. I hope to have as many fans as possible in the stadium for the next match and the atmosphere should be as good as possible", said Pablo Zabaleta in his confession for "Fshf.org".