Jandro Orellana: “I hope Barcelona wins La Liga”

Jandro Orellana, now at Estoril Praia, is one of those La Masia graduates that had to look elsewhere for what he couldn’t get at Barcelona’s senior team. A European Under-17 and Under-19 champion, as well as a Youth League champion, Orellana landed in the Portuguese top division after some time at Gerard Piqué’s FC Andorra. The midfielder looks back to his days in La Masía in a recent interview with Flashscore.

Orellana explains: “when I was 12 or 13, I entered a top-level Spanish academy, and then all the years I spent at Espanyol and then Barcelona helped me see football in a different way, perhaps more professionally”, as he focuses on Barça’s youth system: “from the outside, you might not know what’s so special about it. But I think that, from the first day you go there, they make you see football differently. The famous “positional game” or “positional football,” as they call it, teaches you that each position must have certain characteristics and perceive the game in a specific way.”

For Jandro, it was not easy to leave Barcelona, “It was difficult, because I’ve always had this dream since I was little, and when you finally achieve it, you never want it to end”, and he would consider returning home, “I never rule out a possible return, because it’s a dream to have grown up there and be able to play there”. However, “right now, I’m very happy at Estoril”, he concludes.

For the Spaniard, it was a dream to share the locker room with some of his idols at Barça, “my generation had the opportunity to follow the best Barça team in recent years. I was lucky enough to share some training sessions and some matches with them, and you can’t believe it, because for you it’s a dream”. He’s no certain who will win La Liga this year, but “I hope Barça wins it”.