Hong Kong coach on injury that changed life amid battles with Ronaldo, Beckham, Guardiola
Roberto Losada carving out fine managerial career in Hong Kong 15 years after coming from Spain to join Kitchee
In his first season in Hong Kong, Roberto Losada won a league championship and was crowned player of the year. What meant most to him, though, was the feeling of “being on top again”.
“It reminded me of my prime in Spain, when … everyone was talking about me,” Losada, the Eastern head coach, said.
At the age of 24, in December 2000, Losada was one of Spanish football’s brightest prospects. He was in line for an international call-up, while Atletico Madrid and Panathinaikos were among the illustrious suitors wanting him from Real Oviedo.
A mobile and resourceful forward, Losada had been “in the clouds” the previous 1999-2000 season, when he scored goals at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium and Barcelona’s Camp Nou within 48 days of each other.
“Playing against those superstars and scoring in front of 80,000 or 90,000 people … I will never forget those things,” Losada said. “I can’t explain the feeling, but it was magic.”
It is not those goals that he still thinks about on a loop, however. Nor does Losada indulge in daily recollections of facing Zinedine Zidane, Andres Iniesta, Pep Guardiola, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and David Beckham.