Anthony Gordon's secrets to succeed at Barça

BarcelonaAnthony Gordon explains that when he was three years old he already knew he wanted to play for Barça. He watched the Catalan club's matches on television and when it was time to choose a team in video games, he did not hesitate. He would bet on Barça, the club he dreamed of playing for, convinced that his destiny was written. And in this case, he was right. Even though his family were Liverpool fans, little Anthony had more in common with Guardiola, Iniesta or Xavi when he played, than with Steven Gerrard, his idol. And in fact, as has happened to many midfielders trained at La Masia, Gordon was also told that he was too small a boy. Too short and thin. He didn't have the body and energy of Steven Gerrard. So the Liverpool Academy closed its door to him. Initially, they didn't want him at Everton either, although that club realized their mistake shortly after and brought him back, making him debut in the First Division. At Liverpool, on the other hand, they didn't realize Gordon's potential until recently, when he was already playing in the Champions League with Newcastle. It was already too late.

The story of Anthony Gordon is surprising. He insists on remembering how at three years old, he was already clear that he would play for Barça. Both he and his parents were reds, fans of Liverpool. And he had a poster of Gerrard in his room and would get excited by Salah's runs, but he believed that his destiny was in Barcelona. And for this reason, he chose Spanish as a second language at school. From a very young age, he was already taking the first steps that would lead him to Barcelona. As if he had a plan. When at Newcastle he coincided with the physiotherapist Daniel Martí, he asked him to start learning expressions in Catalan. "He would go around saying 'Long live Barça and long live Catalonia' through the Newcastle dressing room," would explain Martí, who remembers him watching the Spanish league and knowing all the teams well.

When last season his Newcastle faced Barça, Gordon went out to speak to the press after the 1-2 defeat, stating that "when they have the ball, they are superior. They know how to hide it, they have incredible quality." He looked excited by what he had seen as a rival. He was especially effusive in his praise when talking about Pedri and De Jong. He was clearer than ever that he wanted to be a 'blaugrana'. And the call came. The one from Liverpool also arrived, but he said no. A son of Liverpool saying no to Liverpool. And all for Barça.

A tough neighborhood

Gordon was born in the Norris Green neighborhood, but he was raised in Walton, two "humble" areas according to his own explanation. Two neighborhoods where many young people end up getting into trouble. Steven Griffin, a physical education teacher at the school Gordon attended, explained to the BBC that "on these streets, many young people make the wrong decisions. They are not easy neighborhoods. Many young people who could be good footballers do not succeed because of bad company. That was not his case. His mother accompanied him to training sessions until late, the family was always there. And he only thought about football, nothing else".

Boxing and chess

His father made him train for hours and hours in the backyard, so that he would be the most technical in the matches he played at school or local youth clubs, where he was always the smallest. "He was that kid who they would pass the ball to and he would end up scoring. And being the shortest," said Griffin. In fact, over the years Gordon would sign up for a local gym to learn boxing. "In Liverpool all the youngsters follow boxing, it's a very popular sport. And it helps a lot with how you have to position your body," he explained himself two years ago, admitting that boxing helped him to win more 50/50 duels with the ball. He also practices chess. In this case to exercise the mind. "I learned chess on my own. I believe that knowing chess helps you in life because it applies to everything. You always have to think one, two, three moves ahead," defends the Barça player.

In fact, almost everything he does has a reason. If he plays chess or trains boxing, it is to apply it to his game. And with the national team he usually takes books written by sports psychologists or former players, to learn. One of his favorites is Winning by Tim Grover, a former trainer of NBA legends Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. He is a footballer who meditates on what he must do, rational, capable of overcoming problems to return stronger.

In Barcelona, his new teammates have discovered a professional, friendly player who is eager to fit in. For this reason, he gets along very well with the local players, while timidly improving his Catalan and fitting in football-wise into a team where he especially admires Pedri. Before the match against Spain with England, in which he would end up scoring the first of the two goals in his national team's defeat (2-3), Gordon sparked some debate in his home country when he made it clear that he considers the level of the players at Barça and the national team to be superior to that of the English. "I think that, playing in Spain, I can speak with knowledge of the facts, and the way they control the ball is different. It is very different from anything I have experienced playing in this country. I don't think we can play like that. We also know how to maintain possession, but the decision-making of some players in Spain doesn't come naturally to us," he said. And, after playing against Spain on Saturday, he insisted on it again: “We are not as good as them at having control of the ball. It was already seen with my goal: more direct football, English style".

Gordon, who is married to the girl he fell in love with when he was a teenager in the neighborhoods where he grew up, seems to calculate everything. He visualizes things and they come true. He visualized that he would play for the English national team and it happened. In fact, he received a proposal to be an international for Scotland, since a grandmother is Scottish, but he said no, because he knew that sooner or later England would want him. And it happened, winning titles in lower categories and playing in the World Cup. He decided he would play for Barça. He has achieved it. And now he has decided that he wants to succeed, proving that a kid from a neighborhood in Liverpool can play as if he had been trained at La Masia. The 'blaugrana', who has already made himself loved by a fanbase that dedicates chants and banners to him, perhaps writes "succeed at Barça" in a notebook every morning. And the fact is that the Briton has explained that when he wakes up, often the first thing he does is write in a notebook or on his phone what his goals are for that day that is beginning. Small goals that allow him to get closer to his big dream: to succeed at Barça.