The members of the Granota Academy celebrated last Sunday the debut of Marc Santos with the first team. His debut in professional football is the result of demanding work involving coordinators, coaches, and, very especially, the teammates with whom he shares his daily routine.

Xavier Laroche and Asier Cano are two of those teammates who have shared the locker room with Marc Santos and experienced with emotion his first minutes with the first team. “I saw him warming up on the sideline, and when I saw him come on, it was a joy. He has been with me for three years, and seeing him debut brings me great joy for him and his family,” says Laroche. For his part, Cano highlights the importance for academy players to see their teammates getting opportunities in the first team: “We experience it as something that motivates us, like this example of Marc. If you set your mind to it, anything can happen. We are motivated to fight for it and achieve it.”

The director of the Granota Academy, Joaqui Navarro, also felt special pride during Marc’s first minutes with Luís Castro’s team. “Teammates who, until very recently, were here, on the lower fields of the Sports City, seeing him debut in the first team and taking on roles in many important moments within a professional football squad makes both the male and female players, also with the women’s first team, see that the path is much closer. If there is work and a daily routine as we understand it should be, these opportunities arise,” explains Joaqui.

After his debut at the RCDE Stadium, Marc Santos wanted to greet his teammates from Juvenil A and Atlético Levante UD to personally thank them for their support and closeness during such a special moment. The player is clear that he continues to be just one of them. “I am no better than anyone else. I am a normal kid, like everyone in the academy, and I will help my teammates as much as possible if at any time I have to go back to the reserve team or the youth team, and with great humility. You shouldn’t think you’re better than anyone. Even though I debuted in the First Division at 15 years old, you have to maintain the humility that my parents have taught me and that the club has instilled in me,” reflects Marc.