A former Barça player remembers his time at the club and 'surrenders' to Ronaldinho's talent

In FC Barcelona, throughout its history, there have been some signings that have come and gone without much fanfare, with their arrivals perhaps even being surprising. In this category, the name Pedro Mario Álvarez Abrante, 'Mario', a player who arrived in 2003 as one of the most atypical signings of the 'Rijkaard Era', could fit. He would only play in two matches wearing the blue and garnet jersey.

However, it is undeniable that the defender experienced a season (2003-04) as a Culé, during which he accumulated a significant amount of interesting experiences. He discussed these experiences in an interview on the 'Offsiders Podcast', where he explained how his signing by the Catalan team was orchestrated. "That summer, the president of Valladolid called me and said, 'Look, Mario, there is a big team in Spain that wants you. Barça wants to sign you, but you can't tell anyone. If you do, the operation will fall apart.' At that time, my friends would say, 'Let's go out,' and I would reply, 'No, I'm not going anywhere.' I was eating well, taking care of myself... and they would ask, 'What's wrong with you, man?' Because during vacations, I usually gained five kilos," he commented.

"Barça paid three million for me. That year, they also signed Ronaldinho, Quaresma, Márquez... in addition to having Xavi, Iniesta, Luis Enrique, Cocu, Kluivert... I felt small among so many figures. Everything was so grand: it was like being in another dimension."

Barcelona's Training Methodology

On another note, 'Mario' revealed a significant discrepancy in terms of training methodology between Valladolid, his former team, and Barcelona. "They didn't even do the gym. It was a different philosophy: there, it was training with the ball, 45 minutes of keep-away, a couple of runs... in other words, they didn't really train. I came from running like an animal at Valladolid and then you arrived there and it was half an hour of keep-away. I swear. Every day, I ended up thinking: keep-away again," he added.

"Supposedly, it was fun, but I was already tired of it. And then it was a lot of ball work, but not much physical work; maybe it wasn't as necessary with the players they had at that time."

'Mario' in Awe of Ronaldinho's Talent

Finally, 'Mario' mentioned that he was particularly impressed by Ronaldinho, who quickly proved to be one of those players labeled as 'different', possessing exceptional talent. "Ronaldinho, for me, if he had taken care of himself a bit more, well, he would have been on par with Messi. Even training at 50% or 70%, he played while laughing, it was a marvel to watch him play and train. For me, in Barcelona's good years, he was the best in the world by far," he concluded.

"It was impossible to take the ball from him, it was crazy. I mean, he was on another level. Above everyone. And his treatment towards us was spectacular. There were others who barely said good morning, but Ronnie was exceptional."