LAYUN IT ALL ON THE LINE
Mexico star Miguel survived a cancer scare and that set him up to tackle Liverpool, ‘the world’s best team’
MEXICO star Miguel Layun has adopted a new outlook on life as he plots a huge upset against “the best team in the world”.
The former Watford defender, 31, will play for Monterrey against Liverpool in the Club World Cup in Doha tomorrow having survived a cancer scare earlier in the summer.
Layun went in for a regular health check, doctors found a tumour in his kidney and, incredibly, he was back in full training just a month after having it removed.
He said: “It was very hard when we received the news about it. Nobody is expecting to have any sickness.
“When you get this news that you have a tumour, you need the surgery to take it out. And then they take it out they let you know it’s cancer, it’s hard to process in your mind.
“It made me realise that right now we’re here but we don’t know what will happen next week, in the next months or years.
“It makes you appreciate our lives, when we’re happy, focus on our family and the things that make us.
“We spend so much time complaining about everything, criticising everyone, the whole society and you lose the compass in life.
“We waste our time complaining. It doesn’t matter if you have money, a big house, we are all going to end the same way: we are all going to die.
“So it’s up to us to enjoy our life and make sure we always do that and I made a lot of changes in my outlook to do that.”
Layun speaks perfect English and was eloquent as he explained how he is trying to get the best from his life as a footballer by putting his wife and two children first.
But there remains a deep determination to be as successful as he can while he is still playing.
Traditionally, it is generally the European champions who end up playing the South American champions in the Club World Cup but the Mexican club believe they can cause an upset this time in this semi-final.
Layun (below celebrating a goal for Watford in 2015) said: “This is an opportunity to play against Liverpool because they are the best team in the world. They are playing so well, they understand perfectly what Mr Klopp is asking for, that’s what they make it look like.
“There’s a nine-hour time difference between Mexico and Doha, that helps Liverpool a lot.”
Layun’s career has taken him to Italy, Spain and back to Mexico, but there was also a short stint in English football with Watford when he helped them gain promotion to the Premier League in 2015 and then played four games in the top flight before being sold.
And while he has started his own coffee brand, Cafe19, with support from former Porto team-mate Iker Casillas, not staying longer in English football remains a huge regret.
He added: “I enjoyed it a lot. If I’m honest, I wanted to stay.
“When I decided to move to Watford, they were in the Championship but I was dreaming of playing in the Premier League and when we got promoted the first four matches were good for me.
“I showed I could play in the Premier League, I scored against Everton, I felt good in the Premier League and then football is like this… I had a chance to move to Porto and I can’t complain. I can regret a bit because I was hoping to stay for one or two years.”