Ildefons Lima: “When I look at my shirts I see Shevchenko, Lewandowski, Bale, Van Persie…”

Ildefonso Lima He has just retired as an international footballer. He did it a few weeks ago in a match against Switzerland in Sion, where the Andorran ended up for his caps record: 137 caps over 26 years, making him the player with the longest international career. The defender, who is still an Andorra B player, spoke at length in an interview with ‘The Guardian’ where he explained many curiosities.

“I remember the teacher attacked me in front of the whole class. The reprimand I received… ‘What are you doing there?! You’re going to embarrass us! You’re going to embarrass the country in front of the whole world! I was 18 years old and thought me: ‘Why is it my fault?’ “Then he apologized,” he said, smiling as he explained Andorra’s match against Brazil in June 1998.

In the beginning there was nothing. “When we left for Estonia in 1997, we traveled blind. We didn’t know what we would see, nothing about international football. The only team in the country was FC Andorra, who played in Spain’s Second B. A choice had to be made of the federation a team “but there are probably only about 25 people to choose from. Andorra has no football tradition and only has 30,000, maybe 35,000 people with passports,” he explained.

“Andorra is a town, we all know each other. In the team there are children, others in their 30s and my brother Toni and I. We went to Estonia for 10 days and established ties that still bind us together. Estonia did not last long. separated from the Soviet Union. Supermarkets were empty, we were hungry, we lined up at telephone booths to call home. But we were very enthusiastic,” he explained .

And after the game against Estonia… “We played against Estonia and then came Latvia. We have a Brazilian coach, Miluir Macedo, who has contacts in the CBF and he proposed a friendly. In us! With Brazil! But Brazil He’s not ‘I don’t know where Andorra is! Before you know it, you’re on a plane to Paris. We arrive at the Stade Bauer and the fans are everywhere. Look at me a teammate and said: ‘What have we been through?’ “. “Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Dunga, Taffarel, Rivaldo are there in the tunnel. You think: ‘Damn, this is serious.'” “That day changed everything. They only beat us 3-0.”

Before all the stars of France

“That was Brazil’s last warm-up for the World Cup. And they reached the final and lost to France, whose first game after the star on their chest was against Andorra, in Paris! Zidane, Laurent Blanc, Fabien Barthez. .. . and 90,000 people. At half-time we were 0-0. I remember the headline: ‘Andorra fights harder than Brazil’! Then you play against France at Montjuïc and you lose 1-0 in a penalty. Everything was different then. You played against Brazil and against France. You can bring anyone now. Bring the ‘Evasion or Victory’ team!, with Sylvester Stallone and Pelé,” he explained, laughing.

In the decades of 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020, Lima played against almost all the stars, except Leo Messi. “I told one of the FIFA guys, ‘Hey, when there’s a legends game, invite me too.'” It took Lima 20 years to win its first official international match. A 1-0 against Hungary in a World Cup qualifier in June 2017. “We had a shot and it went in. I don’t think I’ve cried so much in my life. It was so long, everything almost , thought you: ‘ We are cursed.’ When you win, you celebrate it like the World Cup.”

Like professional, but without their millions

Lima explained that there are people who are concerned that countries like Andorra have to play against the biggest countries, as if their mere existence is an affront. “A small country playing against a big one shouldn’t be a cause for anger. If you’re much better, show it. It’s funny. Since 1996, when we started playing, some of them won the same as us: none .” He works in a bank, he’s a fireman, he’s a policeman, they’re not professionals.’ But we are both professionals; The difference is we don’t make millions.

“Twenty-six years, a record (in men’s football). Four different decades. I told the kids: play until you can’t play anymore. There’s nothing like it. I just quit because I couldn’t go on: I ‘ Almost 44. I played against two Ronaldos and when I look at my shirts I see Shevchenko, Lewandowski, Bale, Van Persie. I went from Ronaldo Nazário to Mbappé: that is the sign of the passage of time. I did not play against the idols of one generation but against the idols of several generations.” .