Interview with Fabio: Leave the best performance in Beijing, and I won't leave if Guoan doesn't win the championship!

Contributing Writer / Song Ci Beijing, South Fourth Ring Road Jujia Football Training Base, here is the new base of Beijing Guoan. Guoan, who had not had a stable training location in the capital before, finally had a "home".

The day after he arrived at his new home, Fabio was still fresh from everything here. Accompanied by a press officer and an interpreter, Fabio carefully observes every detail of his home.

On the wall to the right hand of the team's conference room, there is a group photo of the team's only league victory. Fabio struggled to find the figure of team leader Sui Dongliang and assistant coach Tao Wei, and he knew that they were the only ones who remained in the team of the champions that year. In the middle of the group photo, a black foreign player is particularly conspicuous, and Fabio asks: "What is his name, which country is the player, and what position does he play?" ”

Upon learning that the defender from Cameroon, William Paul, also has Portuguese nationality, the Portuguese-born Fabio laughed: "He was very lucky. When told that William Paul was not a regular in the national security team that year, Fabio said, "Then he was the lucky of the lucky ones." ”

Faced with this group photo of winning the championship 16 years ago, talking about his goals for this year, Fabio said with a firm gaze: "Win the championship!" Then, he immediately added: "If you don't win the championship, I won't leave!" ”

◆Football: This is your third year at Guoan, how do you feel about the team and the city?

Fabio: It's totally homely. Actually, from the first day I arrived at Guoan, I felt like I was coming home, both within the team and about the city. Everyone here is very kind to me and I come to the team every day like a pistachio. Especially when we come to our new base and our new home after this holiday, it's a gift from heaven for me and my teammates. Now we have perfect training conditions, and every room in the base is like our own home. So, with such a good base, we have to work harder to play every game and I want to help the team win more games.

◆You've been in great form this season, consistently leading the scorers' charts and scoring in six of your 12 games. Of all the goals, which one was your favourite?

All. I love every goal I score, every single one is the best, but I still care more about the team's win. For me personally, the goal statistics do not represent how strong my individual ability is, it just means that the team of Beijing Guoan is very good, and every goal I scored was achieved with the joint efforts of everyone in the team, so no matter how many goals I scored, this result is not mine alone, and behind this honor is the whole team. It's like these pictures of the team's history on the wall, there are not only the players, but there are a lot of staff in there, and I believe everyone has given their all for this team. It's not so much about which goal I score, it's more about every game I play for this team, and every day here gives me a great sense of pride.

◆Although you have been the focus of every opponent, you have still excelled and you have scored eight goals this season, six of which have been the first of the game. Is there a trick to how you are in such good shape?

There is no secret. If there is, it is a stronger conviction. From the very beginning of my exposure to football, I set myself some idol goals, such as Eusebio, who is my idol. I've been trying to catch up in his direction. I kept telling myself that I wanted to one day be or get close to what he achieved. With that in mind, I have a stronger belief to take every opportunity in the game.

◆You scored 10 league goals in your first season and 14 in your second season. Eight goals have been scored so far, how many goals have you set yourself for this season?

Definitely surpass last year's 14 and if you have to set a goal, it's 20 goals because before that my career record was 18 goals in a single season and hopefully I can break that record this year.

◆Football: You had 12 assists last year, beating Qingdao Manatee 6-0, you scored one goal and four assists, and you were the first Beijing Guoan player to reach four assists in a single game. With three assists so far this season, is that decrease due to the fact that there are more people feeding you shells right now? All you have to do is complete the goalscoring mission?

Fabio: I had so many assists last year! Now I only have 3? But I think in my game this year, I made a lot of dangerous passes to my team-mates, but unfortunately they didn't score, so it's not my problem to have fewer assists, haha.

I had 12 assists last season, which I think is a bit incredible. I didn't really want to brush that stat on purpose, but it produced 12 assists. If you want to increase my assists this year, maybe there is a way to put our captain (Zhang Xizhe) at the front and I go to pass the ball to him. He's a very good player, he's the best number 10 and there's no one else in the team to replace him. If I pass him the ball, he's going to score a lot of goals.

◆Guoan fans have regarded you as the team's most threatening attacking point, including many domestic fans who also think that you are the first foreign aid in this year's Chinese Super League. Will this become a stress for you?

On this topic, I would like to start by talking about what stress is, or whether we can turn it into motivation. Everyone in our current team can be said to have fulfilled their childhood dreams by playing to this day. We now have the conditions and the opportunity to achieve the same achievements as our childhood idols, so the pressure of good or bad performance on the pitch is not really stress.

The real stress can be a very hard father, going out every day to find a bite to eat for his child, and if he comes back empty-handed at night, the child will starve, and that's the real pressure. We now have such a good position to show our talent and it's not a pressure. Maybe the opponents will defend against me, maybe the fans will expect me to score more goals. But these can be translated into motivation, not stress. I know I'm going to work harder for the fans to win games and that's what motivates me.

◆So what is your biggest motivation or goal right now?

My dream now is to win a championship for Beijing Guoan and for the city of Beijing, and if I can't achieve this goal, I won't leave here. Yes, if you don't win the championship, I won't go. I know that it has been 16 years since the last time the national team won the championship, and this time it has been 16 years since the last championship. Maybe this is a coincidence, 16 years of waiting, I hope that all of us will work together to achieve this goal and make the dream a reality.

◆This dream of yours is also the wish of all Guoan fans, you said earlier that you feel at home here, does this sense of belonging further stimulate your potential?

Yes, I am now familiar with Beijing, and my family and I have found a sense of home here. My wife and children have fully adapted to life in Beijing. This is the main reason why I don't want to leave Beijing.

As a player, I will give my best to this team and to everyone in our club, even our venue staff, because they work hard to make the pitch so good. Everyone here is very important to us, from the coaching staff to the chef class, they arrange our lives and training really well every day so that we can be fully engaged. So I have to be worthy of this team, as long as I step on the door of the national security base, I am a smiling Fabio. Maybe one day I'll leave the city, but as long as everyone mentions Fabio in the future, everyone will think of Fabio who likes to laugh and can bring positive energy to everyone.

◆Football: The Guoan team are unbeaten so far this season and have played very well against several title rivals, especially when you have scored against the top five opponents (and Shenhua forced an own goal), how do you evaluate these rivals on the way to the title, and which team do you think is more difficult to score?

Fabio: This year's Super League title is very competitive, maybe last year Harbour was a notch higher than the other teams, but this year it is not. Although we won Taishan and Harbour this year, and drew with Shenhua and Rongcheng, every game is very difficult to play, everyone's strength is about the same, but we are not afraid of any opponent, facing every opponent, whether strong or weak, we are determined to play our own things. The stronger the opponent, the firmer our belief that we must fight these tough battles well. Therefore, it is not easy to score goals for any team, the key is whether we have enough courage.

◆Although the Guoan team is unbeaten in the first 12 rounds, there are still some games that have not been played well, what do you think is the reason?

Bad play or mistakes in a game are part of the game of football. To give you an example, our team is sometimes like a car, maybe when there is something wrong with the car, everyone is racking their brains to find out what the problem is, in fact, it just needs to be restarted and everything is gone. Against Three Towns and Manatee, we were in control of the game and we could win maybe 10 more times, but there will always be things that don't go well and that's part of the game.

◆Which matches in the first 12 rounds are very regrettable, is it the match with Wuhan Three Towns?

Yes, if there is one regrettable game in the first 12 rounds, it is the match against Three Towns. It's a shame that such a big advantage ended up with a very bad result. Of course, the match with the manatees was also exciting, but the result of the race was very disappointing. We often say in the review that you must not hesitate when defending, and even kicking the football off the field is a very good decision, but we just didn't make that choice, and we made a bad choice after a little hesitation.

◆Football: The team has changed their manager this year, what do you think has changed in the team since the change of manager, and have you fully adapted to Setien's tactics now?

Fabio: At the beginning of the league, everyone was still working with the manager, so some of the games were not very smooth. It was arguably the most uncomfortable time, as everyone was adjusting to the new coach and the new tactics. The manager also needs to adapt to the new environment, and he has to get familiar with every unfamiliar player and unfamiliar opponent. However, as the team's results improve, the changes that the manager has brought to the team are slowly revealed, and the results are the biggest change.

◆How did you spend the most difficult time?

All cooperation is based on mutual trust. As players we have to trust the manager unconditionally, he is a very responsible, experienced and capable manager who knows what to do here. As players, we just have to give ourselves to him and let him be bold with us. At the same time, I also hope that the fans, as well as the management of the club, will firmly support the manager and support him unreservedly, and I believe that he will lead us to good results.

◆When it comes to coaching, we have to mention the next opponent Changchun Yatai, because there is Suarez, the former head coach of the Guoan team, I know that you have a deep relationship with each other, have you been in contact recently.

For me, this game has a special meaning. Because Suarez is my godfather of football. We had a conversation before he came back to China and decided to be the head coach of Changchun Yatai and I knew he was coming back. I hope that the Beijing fans can give Suarez a round of applause and welcome him back to Gongti, Beijing is also the city he once loved very much, and Guoan is also a team he loves very much.

◆Have you talked to Suarez about your goals for this match?

I've already shown my attitude towards him, and then we're opponents. I said to him, "Master has taught the students, and the scene of the students defeating the teacher is about to be staged." The football stadium is the battlefield and I have to help the national team win, and we can't allow accidents at home.

◆"Football": Beijing Guoan has 7 international players, is this the team's confidence to compete for the league championship?

Fabio: Seven internationals show that our players are very strong, and it's definitely not easy for a team to have seven internationals. Of course, not only the 7 of them, Yang Liyu also has the strength of an international player, and I hope that Bai Yang will also have the opportunity to prove himself in the national team. Ngadeu and Spajic are also national team players. Actually, I am too, but I am no longer in contact with the Angolan national team. With so many high-level players together, it will definitely help us to achieve good results, but we have to be more tacit and trust each other and win every game.

◆This year you have a naturalized player like Serginho in your team, do you communicate a lot in private? Do you usually watch the Chinese team's games, and how do you think the Chinese team's difficulties in the World Cup?

Serginho and I will have some exchanges, but our views are just personal exchanges. Although I don't know much about the Chinese team, I watch the Chinese team every game because I like this country. The Chinese team has a lot of powerful players, the Chinese team is short of a button to open the door from entering the World Cup, maybe the Chinese team has not yet found this button, but I believe that the Chinese team will find it sooner or later, and I also believe that as long as the Chinese team can enter the World Cup again, it will become a regular visitor to the World Cup in the future.

◆Which players do you communicate with more in the team, and can any of the players in the national security team go to Europe?

I have a very good relationship with every player, I'm the big pistachio of the team, whether it's going to the locker room, the cafeteria or the gym, they know Fabio is coming from a long distance. There may be people who like to communicate, and some people need me to force them to talk. For example, Lin Liangming, I kept telling him to talk more. I think he has what it takes to go to Europe, he's the kind of character who doesn't talk much.

◆Football: You often watch CBA games live, is basketball your hobby, and do you play well?

Fabio: Outside of football, basketball is my favorite sport. I have a basketball court in the neighborhood where I live, and I play basketball there a lot. When the team is resting, I spend 20 minutes on the basketball court practicing shooting. On holidays, if there are two TVs here, I play football and basketball at the same time, and sometimes I turn off the football game.

◆How are you learning Chinese now?

I don't speak Chinese well (in Chinese), but it will be good in the future. Now my two children have started to speak Chinese. My youngest daughter often said to me in Chinese: What are you doing? What are you doing? I didn't understand what it meant, but later I learned that she and her Chinese aunt at home had learned it.

◆How did you get into football?

I was born in Portugal and moved to England when I was 6 years old, playing football with children. Because my English wasn't very good, they asked me to go to the goalkeeper. But then they saw that I often started to dribble the ball from the goalkeeper position, and I took the ball to the front court and then scored, so they said, don't keep the goal, you go play the striker, and that's how I slowly got on the road of football. Football has given me so many things, and without football, I would not have come to China, let alone met so many friendly Chinese friends. So, I'm going to keep my best performance in China and in Beijing.