Unpaid salaries, aligned to right-back: Jan Oblak talks about galleys in the Portuguese championship

Jan Oblak is today the 29th best goalkeeper in the world with Manuel Neuer and Thibaut Courtois.

The Slovenian who gave few interviews with our colleagues from France football. He remarkably returned to the beginning of his very complex career in the Portuguese championship.

Many galleys in Portugal

In fact, he was recruited in the summer of 2010 by Benfica, and was immediately loaned to Beira Mar where he played only two games during the 2010-2011 season: “In Portugal, it was … difficult. The first loan in particular. When you see that you are only there to make the number, it is difficult. I remember playing at right-back during pre-season. I went from loan to loan and sometimes it wasn’t.” Coaches even know if you’re a goalkeeper or a scorer. […] The most sensitive period was this loan to Leria (2011-2012, editor’s note). Portuguese football was going through a real crisis at the time. There was a power outage, a cold shower. We even played a league game with seven field players, due to unpaid wages! »

Finally, during his fourth consecutive loan, to Rio Ave (2012-2013), Jan Oblak finally thrived in the Portuguese championship. So much so that he finally convinced Benfica captains to bring him back to the club: “At first I didn’t play but from December it disappeared. We won three titles and played in the Europa League final.”

Complicated beginnings at Atletico

Despite the defeat in the C3 final against Sevilla, Oblak caught the eye of Spanish recruits and joined Atlético Madrid in the summer of 2014. As in Portugal, she had difficult beginnings but would eventually become a must-have among nations. Colchoneros.

“Atletico had just been crowned champions and Courtois was going to Chelsea. At that time, La Liga was probably the best in the leagues. I was going to face Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. In short, it all came together. But after two or three training sessions, I found myself on the The winger is injured. Angel Moya, who also arrived during the transfer window and is now a very good friend, started playing… and playing well! It was tough, but after what I went through in Portugal I knew my moment was coming.”

Oblak finally became an indisputable player in his second season in Spain and set an impressive record for Madrid: La Liga in 2021, the Europa League and the European Super Cup in 2018 as well as the Spanish Super Cup in 2014. La Liga Player of the Year 2021 He won the Zamora Cup for the best goalkeeper in La Liga in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021.