Your English is excellent – how and where did you learn to speak it? Can you speak any other languages too?
I didn’t do anything special, it’s just from being in school in Spain.
Football has helped me to travel around the world, which is one of my passions, so my English has just developed from that.
The other languages I speak have come from learning it through hard work, but English has been more natural.
The first time I studied English at school I was three years old.
So I was already able to speak English before I went to Swansea.
I had taken lectures speaking it when I was in Finland and Sweden.
I also speak German, Catalan, Italian is no problem being Spanish, as is Portuguese.
I know a bit of Japanese and from my time in Scandinavia I picked up bits of Swedish and Norwegian.
Other than football, what is your favourite sport?
Maybe the second best for me is chess, although some people don’t call it a sport.
I like basketball, swimming, ice hockey and rugby.
I learnt about rugby in England and there was a lot of ice hockey in Sweden and Norway.
How do you relax when you have some downtime?
Obviously with my family.
I love nature, so it was good when we were at Swansea, because there is a natural paradise on the Gower.
I love playing guitar and chess.
We travel when we can, although in football it is difficult during the season.
I always like to discover new places, but in the end there are always a few places you always go.
We go to Menorca because there are a few nice spots which are very quiet and we love it.
We took Max (son) there for the first time this summer.
My girlfriend Vanessa loves the UK as well. We had four days’ holiday recently and she said ‘let’s go to Swansea’.
What music do you listen to?
I studied music for a lot of years, so I trained myself to like a lot of things.
When I’m in a musical mood I like jazz, but in my normal life I like mainly British heavy metal. Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Iron Maiden.
I went to one of the last gigs Black Sabbath did, in Leeds.
That doesn’t mean I will be playing it in the changing room, that’s the players’ sacred space.
If I see you standing in a bar in Oxford, what drink should I buy for you?
Obviously I really enjoy a nice wine, but I also love a good ale.
I don’t like lager. I’d prefer to have one ale than four lagers.
My girlfriend’s father makes his own wine for the family and we try to help as much as we can.
I have a lot of friends who produce wine for a living.
I would like to bring a few bottles over, so I can share a glass with the opposition managers after the games this season.
You are a football manager with a young baby, when do you sleep?
I tell you what, I sleep more than you think.
Max does wake up, but at the minute he sleeps close to us.
Now he’s starting to crawl, so when he wakes up he just crawls into the bed. Sometimes I don’t even wake up.
I think he’s more looking for his mother anyway, so what can I do?
Who is the most famous person in your mobile phone contacts?
I prefer not to answer this.
If you ask me who is the most important then I’d say my mother, father and Vanessa, but I don’t want to reveal who is in my phone book.
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