Saviola, 44, opens up on tough start: "It grew too much for us as a family"

Javier Saviola — former Real Madrid and FC Barcelona player — reopens memories of his early footballing career in his latest interview on the 'De visitante' podcast. The Argentine revealed that his rise from a normal life in Bajo Belgrano to making his Primera División debut at the age of 16 happened very quickly.

"At that time everything was very fast: from our house in Bajo Belgrano with the family, to debuting in the Primera División at 16 years old. For us as a family, it grew too much," said Saviola. He recalled how fans came to ask for his jerseys to be autographed and how reporters waited at the door of their house — a situation their family was not prepared for.

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Saviola made it clear that, due to lack of preparation, many people end up in their homes. "Sometimes I talk to people and they say, 'we can't forget your family because you let us into your house, we stay there for a long time'... but that's because we're not ready, we don't know how to act," he added.

The exfutbolista also shared a funny anecdote with his big childhood idol, Ariel Ortega. According to Saviola, he invited Ortega to eat at their house. When Ortega saw the room full of posters and photos of her, he asked her to remove the poster from the door. "I got rid of that because I thought I needed to act a little more mature," said Saviola, who also revealed that she was forced to mature quickly because she was often surrounded by people older than her.

In sum, Saviola describes her early career as an experience almost like reaching heaven at age 16 — a very rapid and emotional change they had to deal with as a family.

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