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Do you agree if we say that Monaco play an important part of their season this Thursday?
It is a decisive, fundamental meeting. We play football for this type of match. We have our destiny in our hands. With a win, you are sure to be in second place. We have to take this game very seriously to win at home. I want to tell the fans that we will give everything to qualify. We need their support. I hope many of them will encourage us.
Your header against Ferencvaros at 1-1 at the end of the game could have changed everything.
It didn’t go very far. At the time, I was just focused on winning. It was my teammates on the bench who reassured me and at the final whistle they told me that the result of the other match was in our favor.
Monaco won in Belgrade in the first leg (0-1). What kind of match are you expecting this time?
They are a team that puts a lot of intensity into their game, which can sometimes play hard. We will have to be very strong in duels, respond defensively.
It’s not to feel sorry for you.
I love. Duels are in my blood. I like to fight, to be hard on the man, to impose my strength and my determination especially during games with poles like this one.
Do you remember a striker you were particularly hard on?
Last season in Eindhoven. Carlos Vinicio. it was very hot. There have been a lot of hits, a lot of effort. it was a good fight.
Are you the type who also struggles with words?
Not always but it can happen to me to try to destabilize an attacker. It is part of a defender’s weapons (smile).
Are you trying to bring this vice to your teammates?
I try to show them the way. I talk a lot with Axel (Disasi), Benoît (Badiashile) and Malang (Sarr). As defenders, we have to make life as difficult as possible for the attackers.
Is this something that ASM still lacks?
We can improve on this point. You need to be able to be aggressive for 90 minutes. We have to scare our opponents, show them that it is never easy to face us.
Monk needs to be cornered to perform. How come?
This is not a specific problem for AS Monaco. Many teams are in this situation. We have to be consistent from start to finish of a match and from match to match. This will go through work and the right frame of mind. If you want to be at the top, you need to know how to link high-level performances. This is a goal that we still have to cross.
Against Angers all it takes is an action (Jakobs’ back pass) to stop the headers.
When you offer your opponent an opportunity, you give him confidence. You, you lose a little. The matches are made up of these moments. We need to learn how to better manage these weak times collectively. We were able to react in the second half and score two goals to win.
This is your fourth season in ASM and yet we feel like we don’t know you very well. Who is Guillermo Maripan outside of football?
(smiles) I am a simple person, very private. I love my job and therefore my life is centered on football. I am very focused on training, recovery, my body, health in general, including mental health. Obviously, I am very close to my friends and family who come to visit me regularly from Chile. I enjoy discovering the region with them, living in Monaco.
Do you have a favorite place?
I love the village of Eze, strolling through the alleys or on the Plateau de la Justice. The view is beautiful.
Do we recognize you?
A little, but less than in Chile (laughs).
Under your serious airs, you can also be a lot of fun.
When the moment permits, I am not the last to joke or room my teammates. I always try to be cheerful, in a good mood. In Monaco I am happy and I try to enjoy every moment with my teammates.
“I was advised to devote myself to basketball”
Have you always dreamed of becoming a professional footballer?
Yes. This is all I have thought about since I was four, when my father signed me up. At 15 it became too difficult to reconcile football and studies. I continued to study a little but I didn’t go to class anymore. it went pretty well (smiles).
Did your father play too?
Yes, but as a fan, not as a professional. Mostly he watched games on TV. If I hadn’t been a footballer, I would have liked to work with him. He has a swimming pool construction company. I often accompanied him when I was a child. I saw him dig the earth, install the pools, fill them. I liked it.
Do you have any brothers or sisters?
I have two brothers and a sister, all older than me. Thanks to this, I’ve always been a little pampered.
At 8 you enroll at the Universidad Catolica.
I only have good memories. I learned all my skills there until the age of 23 and left for Spain. I have a lot of affection for this club and for all the people I met there. I built myself as a man and as a footballer.
Did you have doubts during your training or was it all very linear?
Around my 15-16 years, the club had great doubts about my ability to turn pro. He hesitated to offer me a contract. We were closer to no than to yes. I had grown very quickly and had coordination problems. I was also advised to play basketball. After a year or two, everything changed. I got stronger, I moved better. At 18 I was selected with the U20s of Chile.
Was it then that you realized that you should have worked harder than the others?
It is thanks to my parents. They had the necessary perspective. At 15 it is difficult to understand everything, analyze everything. They always told me to work twice as much. Their advice still follows me today. I have used it several times in my career like the first few months with Niko Kovac when I wasn’t playing.
Leaving your childhood club to go to Europe can’t have been easy.
In fact, it was very difficult at first. In Santiago de Chile I lived in a cocoon, surrounded by my relatives, my friends. In Spain, I found myself all alone during the night. it was a bit of a shock. There was no one to keep me company, to watch my games from the stadium. It was new to me. I have learned to live differently. I also discovered more intense football with stronger and faster players than Chile. I didn’t play the first two months. Physically, I got a slap. I was inferior to the other defenders. I spent a lot of time in the gym to gain muscle mass, especially in the legs, and catch up.
Did you have other possibilities besides Alaves?
Six months earlier I had had the opportunity to go to Italy. German and Spanish clubs approached me at the same time in Alavès but my choice was easy because Deportivo had been following me for a long time. It was the right time to take the plunge. I felt ready.
When you were younger, who were your role models?
The Italian Alessandro Nesta and the Brazilian Lucio. Nesta because I loved his elegant way of defending, the precision of his contrasts, his passion. Lucio for his presence in aerial duels and for his ease with the ball.
Do you like watching football on TV?
Yes a lot. I look at everything. The Champions League, Ligue 1 but also the championships of Chile, Argentina, Brazil for my friends who still play there.
Who do you think is the best player in the world?
Messi. It is very difficult to defend against him. He can do everything. He has enormous variety in his dribbles, dribbles and passes.
You are one of the most scoring defenders in Europe.
I like to participate in the offensive game. Scoring is an incredible feeling. I have had the opportunity to experience this feeling several times in the last few seasons (11 goals with ASM). I think my experience as a defender gives me a better understanding of where to stand and where I can make a difference.
To choose, do you prefer a goal or a save on the line?
The rescue, without hesitation.
You are 28 years old. Where are you in relation to your childhood dreams?
I am where I wanted to be. In a good club, in a good league, in the Chilean selection. I feel fulfilled. Obviously there are small goals that I would still like to pursue, but I’m sure they will come soon.
What do you think?
(hesitates) I prefer to keep them to myself.
Where do you see yourself in the future?
I don’t think about it too much. I focus on the present moment. But I am convinced that there is only positive waiting for me.
