The environment of the promising FC Barcelona defender spoke with EL UNIVERSO.
Diego Almeida’s debut with the Ecuadorian senior team was beneficial for both parties. The Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF), together with the Consulate General of Ecuador in Barcelona, hastened the procedures for the young FC Barcelona player to pass immigration control in Houston (Texas) by presenting his Ecuadorian passport.
At just 17 years old, Almeida made his debut with the Tricolor mayor in the friendly against El Salvador (1-1). He entered the changeover and played 15 minutes, a set in which he showed his technical conditions and his ability to work the first pass well. What was striking, and to a certain point curious, was his audacity to order goalkeeper Jorge Pinos (at 68 he replaced Hernán Galíndez) to start at ground level and not with a long serve.
‘A dream come true’
“Grateful to the teacher (Gustavo Alfaro), to the entire coaching staff and the team that received me very well,” said the FC Barcelona Youth A player.
Almeida described his first game with La Tri as “dreamy”. “I have always wanted to do it, it happened and I am very happy,” he told The Soccer Channel.
Already on the field of play, “I just thought about doing it well, enjoying it,” said Almeida, who showed location, good ball handling and commitment to a team that welcomed him well. “It seemed like I knew them for a long time. The works were fluid and the debut arrived. Thank you all ”, he added.
The promising defender’s environment revealed that the teenager “wants to be there” (in the Ecuadorian national team), although they recognize that “winning a place is not going to be easy but not impossible” within the group led by DT Alfaro.
“Diego wants the country as another Ecuadorian”, reveals to EL UNIVERSO a member of the Barça player’s circle.
Completing his debut for Ecuador, Diego Almeida on Sunday headed to Spain to rejoin the Youth A jobs this week with a view to the UEFA Youth League game against Bayern Munich.
Fixed in the eleven of the coach Jorge Alastuey, the Spanish-Ecuadorian surely adds minutes in this last game of the group round of the European tournament.
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