【Perez公器私用練英文044】
‘The ball is in love with him’: teenage Arda Guler ready to star for Turkey
與球熱戀：少年居萊爾將在土耳其將星閃耀
原文網址：https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/jun/18/arda-guler-turkey-real-madrid-euro-2024
發佈時間：2024/06/18
原文作者：Sid Lowe
“I’ve smoked a cigar, I’ve sung a song, I’ve danced with Eduardo; now I want to introduce you to a very interesting kid.” Carlo Ancelotti looked across at the thousands of celebrating Real Madrid fans spread out in front of him and at the 19-year-old standing nervously behind him, reluctantly thrust to the front by giggling teammates. “He’s very shy,” the coach told them. And then he handed the mic to Arda Guler, who said thanks, something about being a family, and hurriedly handed it back.
「我抽了雪茄唱了歌，還跟愛德華多(卡馬文嘉)一起跳舞了；現在，我想向各位介紹一個很有趣的孩子。」卡羅安切洛蒂雙目縱覽在他面前，數以千計正狂歡著的皇馬球迷，一位十九歲的少年緊張地站在他身後，不情願地被促狹笑著的隊友推上了前面。
「他很害羞啊。」教練向大家言道，並把麥克風交給了阿達居萊爾，那個向大家道了謝，提到關於如何融入這個大家庭，並且急著把麥克風交了回去。
The normal thing here would be to say that, surely, Arda Guler needs no introduction. Identified as one of the emerging talents in Europe, he had joined Real Madrid, the world’s biggest club, for €20m plus €10m in incentives, one of which had just been met with a Champions League title. By the time he stood before those supporters in the centre of Madrid, Guler had been at the club and in the country for a year. But actually he did need an introduction, which was precisely why Ancelotti called him forward. This was a gesture of complicity, an expression of care, confidence, integration, an investment in all of their futures.
毫無疑問的，這麼說已是見怪不怪，阿達居萊爾已經不介自知。被認為是歐陸蓄勢待發的天才之一，他已經以兩千萬歐元(附加條款一千萬歐元)加入了皇家馬德里這支世界最大，一支才剛剛帶領他拿到歐冠冠軍的俱樂部。當他立身在馬德里市中心的支持者群聚之中時，居萊爾已經在這支俱樂部、這個城市住了整整一年。但事實上，他確實需要點介紹詞——這也是為什麼安切洛蒂會用「前鋒」稱呼他的更精確的原因。
You may not really know him yet, Ancelotti was telling them – telling Guler too – but you will. They had hardly heard him talk – even now he barely said three words, plus a shy laugh – and had not seen him play often either. What they had seen had been brief yet it promised something extraordinary.
你大概還不真的認識他，安切洛蒂正跟他們說著—同時也在跟居萊爾這麼說—但你將會認識的。
他們幾乎不怎麼聽得到他說話—即使現在也只幾乎說了三個字，搭配著害羞的微笑—並且也很少看他上場比賽。他們能見到的，只有「他會給你們看到些特別的天賦」這樣的簡述承諾。
“Arda has a gift,” Ancelotti said, but it was only seen in glimpses. Now the European Championship may be the introduction everyone else needs too, a chance to enjoy more of Guler, an opportunity for him to announce the arrival he imagined coming sooner. “He is becoming a great player before our eyes,” the former Turkey international Arda Turan says, “with him we’re seeing a wonderful story, like a Hollywood film.” This season, though, it has not entirely gone according to script.
「阿達有著上天的禮物。」安切洛蒂言道，但這只被驚鴻一瞥。而如今「歐冠冠軍」大概將成為其他人需要藉以認識他的開場白，藉此了解更多的居萊爾與享受此節，一個對他來說可以盡快大譟他想像中的亮相的機會。「他將在我們眼前偉大，」前土耳其國腳阿達圖蘭如此形容：「我們正從他身上見證了一個好萊塢電影般的夢幻故事。」雖然這一季，還沒有完全地照稿兌現。
When Guler joined Madrid last summer, aged 18, Vitor Pereira, the coach that gave him his debut as a 16-year-old at Fenerbahce, told El País that he was special: “a thinker, an organiser” and “a finisher”, a player to deliver the final pass and one with an enormous personality; a footballer who always wants the ball and invariably takes the right decision, someone they had to drag off the training pitch or else he would be there all day. At his presentation he said he wanted to be a “legend, like Di Stéfano” and the first thing he did in training was a nutmeg, made for social media. “He’s technically very good, especially in small spaces,” Toni Kroos said after one of those early sessions, describing his left foot as “refined”.
當十八歲的居萊爾上個夏天加盟皇馬，在居萊爾十六歲時就給他初登板機會的費內巴切教練維托佩雷拉，與國家報闡述著居萊爾的的特別之處：「一個靠腦打球的球員、一個組織者還是一個終結者」，一個總能傳出最後一傳並有著明顯人格特質的人：一個總是對球感到渴望，並總能採取正確決策、一個你得把他拖下訓練場否則就會不斷練下去的足球員。他的亮相典禮上，他說他想變成「迪史帝芬諾一樣的傳奇」，並且他在給媒體的訓練課上，第一件事情就是穿襠過人。「他的技巧極其之好，特別是小空間內的表現」東尼克羅斯在賽季早期一次訓練課這麼發言，形容他的左腿是「精巧之作」。
The foot wasn’t the problem. Within three weeks, while on the pre-season tour in the US, Guler sustained a meniscus knee injury, forced to head back to Spain alone. Next it was a hamstring tear. And then a thigh. Each time the injury came as he neared his return. They were all related, Ancelotti would suggest; the muscular injuries were a product of a shift in posture following Guler’s ligament problem. He did not play a minute until a Copa del Rey game against fourth-tier Arandina in January.
腳掌不是問題所在，接下來三週，在美國的季前巡迴賽，居萊爾慘受了膝蓋半月板的傷病，這迫使他只能獨自回到西班牙。緊接在後的則是腿筋的撕裂傷與大腿骨的傷病。每次的傷病，幾乎都忙不迭地發生在他能重新出發之時。安切洛帝做出了個猜想：這些肌肉損傷是因為之前居萊爾的韌帶問題所引起的後遺症。直到一月國王盃對戰第四級球隊Arandina，他可以說是一分鐘也沒上過。
That night Guler took a free-kick from Dani Ceballos, which might have said something of his personality but also his frustration, the need to make up for lost time. Try telling him he’s only a teenager. Ancelotti explained how he too had overcome a knee injury that lasted almost two years, aged 21, preaching patience and optimism. It’s still early, the Italian had insisted, and only a minor muscular problem: Guler, “a player of great talent”, had a “lovely future”. But, the coach admitted, the Turk was “depressed and disappointed”. Joselu would later admit that the squad had treated him like he was their “little son”, someone who needed looking after.
那個居萊爾從塞巴洛斯那裏拿到的自由球開球的夜晚，也許給了他的人格既是啟示也是挫折，要他為了他錯過的時光緊起直追。這些都在試著告訴居萊爾，自己終究還是個少年。安切洛帝解釋他要克服膝傷得要花上兩年時間，也就是他21歲時，得保持耐心與樂觀。一切都早，義大利教練這麼循循善誘，並且只是個輕度的肌肉損傷：居萊爾，「天才選手」仍然有「可期的未來」。但，教練也承認，土耳其球員感到失望而沮喪。何塞魯之後也承認，球隊把居萊爾當成他們的「兒子一輩」，還需要被別人看照一般。
Embed from Getty Images
What Guler most needed was not so easy to come by. It was one thing facing Arandina, another facing anyone else. Opportunities were few. How could it be otherwise: Madrid were playing well without him, and had much in play. Vinícius Júnior, Rodrigo, Jude Bellingham, Brahim Díaz: these are not footballers you leave out. The idea of sending Guler out on loan was floated, and immediately rejected: he had insisted that he had no intention of developing anywhere else when he arrived in the summer and he refused again now.
居萊爾最需要的事情還不是這麼容易就能迎來。對決Arandina是一件，面對其他人的競爭才是更棘手的。機會少之又少。事情也可能迎來截然不同的發展：皇馬全員在沒有他的情況下運行如儀，比賽中大有斬獲。維尼修斯、羅德里哥、貝林漢姆、布拉辛迪亞茲，他們全是你無可抗拒的足球球星。要把居萊爾租出去的聲音喧囂塵上，但也立刻被拒絕了：他聲明了他在夏季轉會到皇馬之後，沒有在任何其他地方發展的意願，而如今亦若是。
He didn’t play a league game until 27 January – nine minutes against Las Palmas. It was 10 February before he played again. This time he got 13 minutes against Girona, coming on and winning a penalty. A week later, there were three minutes against Rayo. Concerned, the Turkey coach, Vincenzo Montella, visited him. “We’re following him closely and he is playing very little,” he said. “Hopefully he can play more now because he has a lot of talent. It would be better for Real Madrid, the national team and for Arda Guler if he plays more.”
直到一月二十七日，他都沒有打任何一場西甲比賽──並迎來了對拉斯帕爾瑪斯的九分鐘替補。而他下一次踢球已是二月十日，十三分鐘對戰吉羅納，上場並獲得了一個十二碼罰球。一週後，則是對役巴萊卡諾的三分鐘時間。土耳其教練文森佐蒙特拉，前來關切與拜訪。
Guler, though, didn’t appear again until 10 March. He played one minute, and scored. Five minutes followed against Osasuna, in which he hit the bar from 50 yards, and then five weeks without any time on the pitch. In four days with Turkey he played three times as many minutes as he had all season for Madrid.
即使如此，居萊爾在三月十號之前仍然沒有在次上場的機會。他十號上了一分鐘，就取得了進球。之後是五分鐘對奧薩蘇那，在五十碼處射門卻打在門柱上的比賽，而後是五週沒上場的機會，光是在土耳其國家的四天時間、三場比賽，就已經跟他為馬德里一整季上場的時間要來得多了。
“Ancelotti gives me advice as to how to improve, to play more: I’m patient,” Guler said, but it wasn’t always easy. It wasn’t always easy for the coach, either. The teenager had thrown his bib down when, having warmed up, he realised he was not coming on against Almería in January. The following month, Ancelotti said Guler was fit now; his absence was a question of competition for places. “I choose the XI and for some it is harder to get in because they have lost time through injury: he is very young and he had to be patient,” he said. “What he has to do is fight, compete, that’s all.”
「安切洛帝給了我如何進步，並獲得更多上場的忠告：我要有耐心，」居萊爾言道，但知易行難。這對教練來說也同樣艱苦，面對一個一月時對抗阿爾梅尼亞，已經被叫起來熱身，卻了解到自己不會上場，進而怒甩訓練背心的青少年。接下來一個月，安切洛帝根居萊爾說他已經恢復健康；但他先前的缺席將會是競爭先發位置的一大問題。「我在挑選先發十一人，而對於某些球員總會比較難進去名單，因為他們的傷病消磨了他們的時間：他還非常年輕，得要有些耐性，」安切洛帝說：「他要做的事情就是不斷奮鬥並且贏過別人，就這樣。」
When Madrid wrapped up the title, there was a hint of fatigue in his words as Ancelotti said: “It’s difficult to make changes when things are working, but Arda will enjoy the minutes he wants in these final weeks.”
當皇馬已經攫起冠軍，安切洛帝的話中有著玄機：「當一切運轉如儀的時候，要去做什麼調整是困難的，但阿達將會在最後幾週享受到他期待的比賽時光。」
The response was quite something: a goal against Real Sociedad, a goal against Granada, another against Alaves, and two against Villarreal. Guler reached the end of the season without a single minute in the Champions League; he played 379 in La Liga, fewer than anyone else in the first-team squad. He scored six goals with six shots on target, a smoothness, an assuredness about him, his touch different. At a goal every 63 minutes, apart from one-game wonders, no one had a better ratio. Not this season or any season.
這個「調整」的回饋頗給面子：對皇家社會進了一球、格拉那達進了一球、阿拉維斯又進了一球，然後對比利亞雷亞爾(黃潛)更是梅開二度。居萊爾在歐冠截至賽末都沒上過一分鐘，他在西甲打了379分鐘，比一線隊的所有人都要少。他六射正、六進球，他融入比賽是何其滑順、何其令人放心，他的觸球與眾不同。每63分鐘就會進一球，扣除球員只打一場的爆發數據，他的轉換率無人能及，無論是這一季或放眼任何賽季。
“He’s going to be a very important player for us in the future,” Ancelotti said. “There’s no doubt: he’s staying next year. We have a lot of affection for him. He’s the youngest. The ball is in love with him.” Soon, he is sure, everyone else will be too. And what better place to start than here.
安切洛帝讚譽：「他將會是我們未來非常重要的球員，毫無疑問：我們對他抱有很大的期待。他是最年輕的球員，足球正與他譜寫戀情。」很快的，他就確信，每個人都會這樣看他，並且沒有比這裡更好的起點了。
The coach almost hinted on the eve of their opening game against Georgia in Dortmund on Tuesday that playing fewer minutes could be better than playing too many, the fatigue other footballers face a significant concern. And there was a shift in position that might be beneficial internationally, Montella admitting that he sees him “almost as more of a right winger than a No 10 now”, a role in which he intends to start him. And then there’s the experience of success.
教練幾乎在他們週二於多特蒙德球場對戰喬治亞的晚上就暗示了這一點，打得多不如打得巧，其他球員(打了一整季後)的疲勞度成為了嚴重的問題。而位置的變化可能更是居萊爾打國家隊帶來更多利益，蒙特拉承認他將居萊爾「比起十號球員更是一個右邊鋒」，一個蒙特拉更傾向先發他的位置，並且帶來了勝利的經驗。
“We’ve been following him constantly,” Montella said. “Arda started the season with an injury that ended up being very long and he did not play much but at the end he did and he showed his value. He is in optimal condition and has proven that he can win, and I hope he can bring that to the Turkish team. This is an important opportunity for him.”
「我們已經持續追蹤他已久，」蒙特拉表示：「阿達雖然開季帶傷，且花了許多時間療傷造成他出場的時間不多，但賽季末他展現了他的價值所在。他是個最佳的建隊要素並表現出他能為比賽獲得勝利，我們希望他能把這項特質帶到土耳其國家隊。這將會是屬於他的絕佳機會。」
A season that might have damaged Guler’s chances of making an impact at the Euros could instead have ended as the perfect preparation, his last public appearance in Spain before joining the national team spent standing before thousands of fans, some introduction necessary. That night Ancelotti looked back at him, mic in hand. “Step forward, kid,” he said. Now perhaps he can.
一個賽季，可能會摧毀居萊爾在歐洲盃造成影響的機會，卻以完美準備的姿態做結，他在加入國家隊集訓之後的最後一次西班牙公開現身，是在數以千計的球迷前面做出必要的介紹。當晚安切洛帝望向他，把麥克風交給他。
「向前行啊，孩子。」他如是說，而或許，居萊爾現在能夠(在歐洲盃)實踐了。
留言
張貼留言