Carvajal backing the number 2
Dani Carvajal is playing better than ever, beaming after an outstanding season that ended with the league title and that much-desired photo of him lifting the Champions League to the sky at Wembley. The national team full-back, a player with charisma and leadership, is aware of this and is trying to pass on his victorious mood to the rest of the squad, already in high spirits ahead of what is to come. "Football is all about dynamics and everything is contagious, both the good and the bad. Taking advantage of the fact that I'm in a great moment, I hope to infect and bring everyone who wants to join me onto my boat", says Carvajal.
Like the rest of his club team-mates, he joined the training camp in Las Rozas a few days late and found it almost impossible to respond to the thousands of messages of support he received after conquering Europe. "Everyone knows me as I am, both inside and out. I've received a lot of congratulations and people are happy for me," he says. Now he has the chance to play in the European Championships, a competition that, believe it or not, he has never played in. "The two that I could have played in came while I was injured, so I'm really looking forward to it, keen to play in a European Championships and hopefully, why not win it.
And he will do so with the number 2 on his back, ditching the 0 from the 20 he previously wore in the red of Spain. "When we won the Nations League title I wore the 2 and this year I have done very well at the club, so I decided to change number at national level to bring that good luck and see if it repeats itself".
That luck is shared with Joselu, who is a teammate, a friend and a brother-in-law and with whom he shares a very close relationship. The two players have experienced everything together. "For us it's something incredible. To have shared a dressing room in Castilla, to have been in Germany in different teams, to have played against each other on several occasions... And now, at our club, to have won titles, to have lifted the Champions League... to have won the Nations League, to have an almost perfect run to the European Championships and to be here with him... Everything stays in the family, we have a great relationship and we enjoy it very much because this kind of thing is unlikely to happen again".
This is a defender who has the word competitiveness tattooed onto his soul, he never gives up. "I feel it's a little bit my own, my way of life. I'm very competitive in everything and I think that, thanks to that, I am the person I am on the pitch".
Spain, who have already been working at a very high level of intensity in Germany for a few days now, are excited now that the European Championships are coming up soon, and it's hard not to be with players as ambitious as Carvajal. "It will be a very difficult European Championships, with very strong teams. There will be more than one surprise, there are very difficult teams that are hard to beat. But I can imagine a European Championships with Spain in Berlin in the final. I'm really looking forward to Saturday and playing against Croatia, we're really looking forward to the competition".