San Román: “We will go to death, but I cannot hide my DNA”

Sgrandson of the legend of the 70s who raised a Cup Winners’ Cup, two Leagues and a Cup together with the Luis, Griffa and company, son of another Miguel who kept the last name in the club until jumping from the reserve team to occupy a place on the bench against health during the 1984 soccer players’ strike and with his entire paternal family born in San Rafael, the third Miguel San Román It was born in 1997 in Benidorm, where his father finished his career, with the red and white running through his veins and with the goal waiting for him to continue the saga.

“Blanco nor el Orujo”, as the biography that recounts the charisma of the Poultry breastdestiny has also respected the great-uncle’s maxim by adding the color green to the stripe that crosses his chest and an inevitably red-and-white heart. “I can’t hide it because Atleti is part of my family’s DNA and I was accompanied by that symbolism from a very young age,” he acknowledges. However, the vagaries of life force tonight now Elche goalkeeperto which Simeone allowed him to fulfill his childhood dream, to bury his sentimentality, being the first to want to become the great obstacle for the LaLiga winter champion on his way to the Cup quarterfinals.

A ‘permitted machada’

“Let people not be confused, we will go to the death, to try to beat them,” warns San Román in relation to his past. “Elche is very excited about the CupLet’s see if we can get our hands on them. We want to believe that there is a way to compete with our weapons. Although I see the best version of Atleti this year, playing at a very, very high level, we also arrive with a lot of confidence, with everyone involved and enjoying themselves. It will be a special game.”

We want to believe that there is a way to compete with our weapons

San Román, goalkeeper of Elche

A convinced cholista

What he has no doubt about is that the “Elche” pronounced by El Cholo just after the record of victories against Osasuna was quite a declaration of intentions. “I was lucky enough to be in his locker room for a year, for me it is the best and I had no doubt that he was going to respond like that. I know his determination, his way of approaching football and the game by game that is etched in his memory. It is the most important of the year because the next one always is, it does not save anything. That’s why I’m waiting for its more competitive version. I know how they experience the Cup, a real option to win a title.”

For me it was a football master to share the day to day life with Simeone, Vercellone and the others

A tournament that, despite elimination against Cornellá in 2021he will never forget after El Cholo placed him under the sticks. “I am very grateful to him and Vercellone because they treated me especially well. They molded me to fully understand what elite football was. My jump was coming on loan to Elche the year we were promoted, but upon my return, after Atleti asked me to stay because it was the year of Covid and they needed three goalkeepers, I lived a very special year with winning the League and that debut in Cup. For me it was a soccer master to share everyday life with them, they made me feel like one of them. I keep it in my memory and my heart.”

From his father’s advice, to the ‘threat’ of Pechuga

It was no wonder considering everything he learned both in his house and in that of his paternal grandparents. “The whole life full of red and white details. RI remember having the Hasselbaink t-shirtmi first time at the Calderón in the Intertoto…Infinity of memories of a child raised in that athletic doctrine. I can’t hide it because Atleti is part of my family’s DNA and I was accompanied by that symbology from a very young age,” San Román acknowledges.

Also thousands of anecdotes that allowed him to internalize the values ​​of Atlético. “I get goosebumps when my father tells me about his training at the Calderón with Luis Aragonés in charge. And those legendary phrases and that special way he had of treating the player,” he explains.

I get goosebumps when my father tells me about his training at the Calderón with Luis

In fact, although his father would end up having a career in a very competitive Second B team at the time (he started in Conquense and ended up in Benidorm), I would end up giving him some key advice to become the goalkeeper he is today. “The first day I went to Atleti he told me ‘behave like you are, treat everyone with respect because if you do that they will want you to do well and they will help you.’ And I kept it in mind during all my years in the quarry because at first I had it very difficult because I had technical deficiencies and it was difficult for me to play, but I was given the opportunity to continue because of the way I worked and behaved. It gave me the opportunity to get involved in professional football,” he says.

However, it would be a threat of the Poultry breast the one that would end up channeling him. “Unfortunately I couldn’t treat my great-uncle much because I was in Benidorm and he was in Madrid or San Rafael, but when he found out that I had signed for Atleti he was very attentive during the first months. Someone must have told him that I was playing with a ribbon in my hair, like I do now to hold my hair back, and he came one day and told me: ‘If I find out that you keep playing with it, I’m going to rip it off!’ That’s how it was,” he says with great affection.

After signing, Pechuga told me that if I played with a ribbon in my hair, he would take it off.

Goalkeeper in the genes

Although it was predestined to be goalkeeper by family inheritanceSan Román would end up under fire several years late. “My father avoided it at all costs because he knows the suffering it entails, how exposed you are and the pain that mistakes cause. So I started as a winger. Until a teammate of my father who was in charge of the Benidorm youth team told him that I was very brave, that I put a lot of effort and intensity, but that I wasn’t the best with the ball at my feet, so why didn’t I try put myself as a goalkeeper. He tried not to until, as he remembers, I arrived one day, asked him to buy me some gloves and there was no turning back.”

The call from Atleti that changed everything

Although red and white feeling emanated from the cradle, San Román He would not join Atlético until 2011, to enroll in the first-year Cadet. A landing that would once again be presided over by a whim of fate. “It’s a bit of a bizarre story. I was in Benidorm, which didn’t even play in the Honor Division and the Valencia by a recruitment program. I was going to sign, I came to visit the residence, but three or four days before Atlético called me when they found out that my father went to Getafe with Luis Garcíawho like him had gone through the quarry, to be the goalkeeping coach. They knew I was going to take into account the fact that I could live close to my family. There wasn’t much else to think about because being Atleti and with my family tradition, I was very excited. So we thanked Valencia, who behaved very well and we headed to Madrid,” he recalls.

I was going to go to Valencia, but when Atleti called there wasn’t much to think about

The ‘welcome’ of Kings to the elite

Nor does San Román forget the day when, at the age of 14, in his first training session with Atlético, shortly before El Cholo relieved Manzano, he saw what football was about. “It was a circumstantial thing, Courtois had hurt himself, Joel was with the national team and there were no goalkeepers. So they looked for the tallest person on the afternoon shift and it was me. I trained with the heart rate at 2,000, but I remember above all a shot by Reyes that took my hands out of place and completely threw me off because I was a child who was not prepared for those hits and quickly alerted me that this was the professional level,” he reveals.

Oblak’s apprentice

What no one can imagine is what it would have been like. San Román’s future at Atlético if he had not coincided with Oblak. “I knew it was frankly difficult, before me no youth goalkeeper had debuted under Simeone. I always saw Jan as what he is, the best in the world. Watching him work every day of the year is like watching a phenomenon. I tried to take as much as possible. It was a gift and continuous learning,” he has the first Youth Double in Atlético’s history on his resume.

I always saw Jan as what he is, the best in the world, it was a gift to work with him

dangerous friendships

Koke, Correa, Llorente o Riquelmethey will return to San Román his last memories in red and white, although he rescues from his last year in the reserve team the warning that during the 90 minutes there are no friends. “Giuliano He also has it in his DNA. What he represents is pure Atlético de Madrid. But it’s also talent, you don’t become world champion just with pride and desire.”