With his forward 5-0, the staff component was moved by remembering the consort Raquel: “The imprints he leaves are magnificent, a source of inspiration, not of suffering”
At the 88th minute of the Champions League final between PSG and Inter, immediately after the 5-0 of Mayulu, the cameras framed a technical collaborator of the Parisians in tears. He was standing, in front of the bench, alone. He had his eyes shiny, he could not hold back the emotion. Rafel Pol looked at the field and cried. He is the historic deputy coach of Luis Enrique, the two work together since Rome in 2011. In addition to his career, successes and triumphs, however, share a profound pain. Like the Spanish coach, Pol also had to face a mourning: last November he lost his wife Raquel. Luis Enrique had dedicated the victory against Angers in Ligue 1 to his friend: “I am a spokesman for all of us on PSG. We want to dedicate this result to Rafel, his family and the Raquel family -he said -. Our most sincere support and all the strength of the world will never fail”.
From Rome to PSG
–
Originally from the Balearics, Rafel Pol is 38 years old and graduated in motor sciences. He started collaborating with the Asturian coach in Rome in 2011 as an athletic trainer. He followed him in the subsequent experience at Celta Vigo, then also at Barcelona and the Spanish national team. From 2023 he has become Luis Enrique’s deputy in the new adventure at PSG. He has always been a supporter of the application of football technology: “It may seem strange, but the performance of a player on the field is comparable to that of an astronaut on a journey into space -he had told Pol in April 2023 -. The human ability to respond to pressure or certain conditions does not make distinctions between specialties. Flexibility is always necessary, both in the field and in space”. For the young deputy coach of PSG, athletes are not machines: “A footballer is more an artist than a robot”.
special dedication
–
Not only those who play, even those who stay on the bench are human. He lives on emotions, feelings, fragility. Here are the tears in the game ending at the Allianz Arena. Rafel Pol has conquered together with the Spanish technician in these years: two titles in Liga with Barcelona, three Spanish Cups, two championships won with PSG and much more. The 38 -year -old was on the pitch to also celebrate at the Olympiastadion in Berlin in 2015, when the little Xana won the Blaugrana flag next to his father Luis Enrique after the Champions League won against Juventus. The coach dedicated to her, who died in 2019, the triumph against Inter. There, there was also another soul to applaud: Raquel, wife of Pol. “I am infinitely grateful to life, as much as it may seem unjust, for the love and time she gave me with her -her husband wrote on Instagram in November -. Our reality is carved in memory. The past never dies, it has not even passed. The present is nothing more than a collection of footprints. inspiration, not of suffering ”. Rafel followed them until yet another victory. In Munich he was not alone.
© RESERVED REPRODUCTION