Back in late February, Fabio Aurelio returned to former club Valencia for several days, to check on one of his clients. Now an agent, the former left-back won two La Liga titles and the 2003-04 UEFA Cup with the Spanish giants, before rejoining manager Rafa Benitez at Liverpool two years after that continental success.
Going back to the city where his greatest triumphs occured, the Brazilian couldn’t help but feel a bit melancholic every time he looked through his hotel room window at the modern Avenida de las Cortes Valencianas.
“It’s kind of sad, you know?” Aurelio tells FourFourTwo a few weeks later. “You draw back the curtains and there it is, right in front of you, that big monument, static, nothing much happening around it, no real life. You look from the outside and think that the stadium is finished, but no. No one can really say if that day will ever come.
“So, damn, it’s sad because you’ve lived there and know that city. The club and the supporters deserve a stadium like that.”
With a planned capacity of up to 80,000, Nou Mestalla was destined to take Valencia into a new era when construction began in 2007. Instead, work was paused within two years due to a lack of funds, turning a half-built arena into a white elephant that epitomises the club’s myriad problems. Having previously aimed to re-establish themselves at the top of European football, Los Che are now at real risk of La Liga relegation for the first time since 1986. It wasn’t supposed to be like this...
THE HITMAN AND HIM
This story is from the May 2023 edition of FourFourTwo UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2023 edition of FourFourTwo UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Sean Longstaff – Local Hero
Like Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold, Sean Longstaff has shone for his boyhood club this season. The midfielder tells FFT all about his Newcastle revival under Eddie Howe, a £50m move to Manchester United that never was, and why he hasn't been herding sheep...
"We won 3-0 at Spurs.Two games later. I was sacked"
Two-and-a-half years since his Manchester United reign came to an end, Ole Gunnar Solskjder sits down with FFT for a rare interview, opening up on the club’s post-Fergie struggles, Cristiano Ronaldo and the challenges of managing modern superstars
Trent Alexander-Arnold – Calm down! Calm down! Calm down!
There's been plenty of noise around Trent Alexander-Arnold's performances for club and country over the past 12 months, but the man himself has maintained a cool head. Donning a retro shellsuit for FFT, the Merseyside maestro insists he's still got lofty ambitions - none more so than becoming the best footballer on the planet...
WHAT WOULD WOODWARD DO?
Sir Dave Brailsford isn't football's first interloping innovator from another sport, as Southampton fans will recall
THE ARQUND GROUNDS EFL-NON-LEAGUE-SCOTLAND
The Wigan gaffer on why he could have taken up tennis, seeking Sir Alex's advice and memories of cup glory with the Latics
HOW LUTON TOWN BECAME A PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM
The Hatters were tipped to finish bottom of the table at the start of the campaign, but have adapted their game to give themselves a chance of avoiding the dreaded drop
NOISY NEIGHBOURS
Part-owned by the City Football Group, minnows Girona emulated Manchester City by surging past Barcelona to gain Catalan supremacy and even topped La Liga this season. FFT speaks to those in the know to find out how
THE DEBATE
Are the Financial Fair Play rules really working?
ENGLISHMEN ABROAD
Qualification for the 2026 World Cup resumes in various parts of the globe this month meet five English managers hoping to steer their adopted nations to unlikely success
MY FOOTBALL
The Barking-born singer-songwriter and activist recalls meeting Bobby Moore, making Stuart Pearce roar, and playing a gig during a Euros final