Willy knows there is so much more to life
THE last time Willy Caballero played against Liverpool, he saved three penalties and won Manchester City the League Cup.
It was a rare moment of professional triumph for the 35-year-old Argentinian keeper. But all his thoughts were with his family in the Wembley stands.
In particular, he was thinking about his 13-year-old daughter, Guillermina, who might never have been able to see him become a hero after suffering cancer in both eyes when she was three.
Five years of gruelling treatment, including chemotherapy, saved one of the girl’s eyes, though she sadly lost the other.
Caballero faces Jurgen Klopp’s team again this afternoon as City attempt to recover from the devastating psychological blow of being dumped from the Champions League after travelling to Monaco with a two-goal lead.
All around him, tension will be high as the prospect looms of Guardiola ending his first season in Manchester without a trophy.
They can’t afford any slip-up if they are to maintain an outside chance of reeling in Chelsea in the League. If that doesn’t happen the FA Cup will be the only chance of silverware.
Caballero will understand the pressure on his manager and team-mates but his personal family history dictates that football success will find its own context.
Willy sacrificed much of his early career when he moved back to Argentina from Elche in Spain to help care for his daughter.
That League Cup he picked up just over 12 months ago was the first trophy he had won for 13 years.
At the time, he was Joe Hart’s deputy and very much City’s second choice.
It meant his opportunities to impress Guillermina, her sister Itanna and wife Lucia on the field had been minimal.
But when the Final went to penalties, he saved three Liverpool spotkicks, from Lucas, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana.
“My family doesn’t need to feel that I am good goalkeeper, only that we can be happy,” he says.
“Life is more important than football. You hear: ‘blah blah blah,’ from players complaining all the time about small things.
“I am sure that nobody has to go through what we’ve been through to see there’s a different way to live.
“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But I am really happy now because my family is happy and most of all, my daughter is happy.
“As a young player, I won trophies with Boca Juniors, but that Final was my first for a long time and the first time I had achieved something big for my family.
“When I moved to Spain it was really difficult because my daughter was sick. The treatment was for many years, but in the end the doctor had to perform surgery and she lost one eye.
“She is now 14 and is asking me everything about football. She asks me about offside – and I’ve explained 11 or 12 times! “The week before that final was difficult for me. We’d lost 5-1 at Chelsea in the FA Cup, my performance was not good and the pressure on Manuel Pellegrini to change the keeper was very big.
“But he stuck by me because I had played in all the cup games. It gave me a positive attitude. It was really emotional, on the pitch and for hours afterwards.
“I recall Joe Hart (inset) running very fast to hug me and I will always remember his good words.
“But that’s how Joe is. Every time I played, he helped me and taught me a lot about the Premier League.
“He’s a really great guy. He will always be my friend because he’s a good person.
“We still talk. When I play for City, he watches and I always try to watch Joe playing for Torino.
“We trained together in the two weeks before he left and we spoke a lot about the situation.
“I tried to help him as a friend, as he helped me, and we keep talking.”
Hart, of course, became the high-profile victim of Guardiola’s desire to play with a sweeper-keeper.
When he left on loan, instead of being deputy to England’s No.1, Caballero found himself behind £19m ex-Barcelona man, Claudio Bravo.
However, the Chilean has struggled in the Premier League and Caballero is now first choice.
“I’m really happy that I have the shirt now,” he says. “I will try to keep it for as long as I can.
“Joe gave fantastic performances over the last two seasons. He made saves that gave us lots of points. Of course I would like to see him play again in England.
“I assume it was a hard decision for Pep and for Joe to move, because of his history in the shirt. “But the boss is the boss and you have to adapt. “It was really difficult to be behind Joe and then Claudio, but I kept working to see how I could improve.
“The most important is to play and I want to play every single game. In the summer I finish my contract, but I am not thinking about what might happen in the future.”