Diego Caballo is a former Real Madrid prospect whose earliest memories of Australia will always be attached to family separation and hardship. The Spanish full-back tells KEEPUP how the arrival of his wife and two children Down Under has given him a new lease on life, and a laser focus on football.
It’s a mere two-hour drive from Salamanca to Madrid, but for Diego Caballo, it was as if he’d arrived in “another world.”
The 15-year-old made the journey from his hometown in 2009 as a promising youth footballer, en route to a life-changing move to Real Madrid. He had impressed a number of clubs around the world, with the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal and FC Barcelona vying for his services.
But in the eyes of the promising Spanish defender, there was only one offer that mattered.
KEEPUP Studios sat down with Caballo ahead of the Sydney Derby. Watch our full feature here:
“I can only go Real Madrid,” Caballo says. “Because I love Real Madrid. And (secondly), I was so close with my family. It’s only a two-hour drive to Salamanca. It was so easy for my parents to catch the car and go there.
“(Before) I was playing at Union Deportivo Salamanca… okay, it’s a big club in Salamanca. But maybe Real Madrid is the best club in the world. It’s different.
“I remember it was so amazing, I arrived there my first day, I remember perfectly. I go up the stairs… you keep going and you can see the big gym. Okay, I think, this is (for) the first team for sure. But: ‘No, this is for you, or the (younger players)’. ‘
“I said: ‘No, this is impossible’. (They said): ’No, really’.
“Then they say: ‘Tomorrow is recovery, let’s go to the pool, to the first team’.”
“When I went to the pool, we went to the first team. (There to meet me) were Kaka, Xabi Alonso, Cristiano (Ronaldo). And they ask you: ‘Hey, how do you feel?’
Caballo casts a dumbfounded look across his face. “And (I’m) like: ‘Are you talking with me?’ Seriously?”
Buy tickets to see Caballo in this weekend’s Sydney Derby!
MATCH DETAILS: SYDNEY DERBY
Sydney FC v Western Sydney Wanderers
Saturday, March 18 2023
Kick-off: 7.45pm AEDT
Allianz Stadium
MATCH CENTRE | BUY TICKETS
Caballo speaks to KEEPUP from a Spanish tapas bar in Sydney, Australia. 14 years on from his very first day at Real Madrid – a day he remembers so vividly, yet feels like a dream – the now-29-year-old is settling into his new life abroad as Sydney FC’s starting left-back in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
But at 15, it took some time for Caballo to feel like he belonged at the Spanish giants; speaking to the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo without feeling somewhat inferior takes some getting used to for a teenager amongst ‘Galacticos’.
But with time, Caballo began to feel at home. And then his world shifted with the arrival of a new head coach to take control of Castilla, Real Madrid’s reserve team, which also included emerging sensation and current Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard.
“When I was younger I loved Zinedine Zidane,” Caballo says. “I remember when he played at Juventus or Real Madrid, I loved him. This is the best player, for me that is not Spanish.
“He was my coach in the Castilla. He understands the other things. Okay, maybe he understands the football, but he understands the player, his mind. Sometimes (if) you didn’t play football, the coach sometimes doesn’t know how the player (feels). This is probably most important, when your mind works it’s more easy.”
Caballo spent six years at Real Madrid, playing for the clubs U18 and U19 sides and going on to represent his country at U17 level on two occasions.
He never made his full international debut for Spain – but one afternoon in 2011, at 17 years of age, Caballo got the opportunity to rub shoulders with giants.
“In this moment, I went to train with my team, with the (U17) team. (I was told): ‘No no, you don’t train today, you go to train with the national team’.”
Spain were reigning world champions at the time after defeating the Netherlands in the 2010 FIFA Men’s World Cup Final in South Africa.
“I remember I called my parents. I said: ‘Papa, papa! I am going to train with the first team, the national team’. He said: ’No, are you kidding me?’
“(I said): ’No, it’s real!’
“Xavi, Iniesta, (Fernando) Torres, (David) Villa, (Carles) Puyol, (Gerrard) Pique, (Iker) Casillas, Sergio Ramos, (David) Silva, (Santi) Carzola. Probably the best team Spain had ever… I (still) have the jersey, the kits, it’s amazing. I saved this jersey (like) I played in the World Cup, seriously.”
These are the priceless memories Caballo banked through 10 years in Spanish football, firstly at Madrid before stints at Valencia and Deportivo La Coruna, before dropping down the divisions to Albacete, Extremadura and CE Sabadell.
At 28 years of age, Caballo’s next move was the first that took him to a club outside of Spain throughout his career.
It was former A-Leagues midfielder turned agent Andreu Guerao who convinced Caballo of a move to Sydney FC.
“My agent, he played (for) Wanderers, and he played in Perth,” Caballo says. “Always he say to me: ‘It’s an incredible city, an incredible league, an incredible country. It’s perfect!’
“(But), It’s the other world. (I said): ‘You’re telling me it’s amazing, but maybe I need to see with my eyes’.
“And when I arrived here? ‘Okay, he’s right’.”
Buy tickets to see Caballo in this weekend’s Sydney Derby!
Caballo has played 20 games for Sydney FC since his off-season arrival, and just like the team itself, his form was often found wanting over the early stages of the 2022-23 A-League Men campaign.
It’s the typical story of an overseas signing needing time to bed into a new environment, made all the more difficult by leaving his wife Sheila and two children, Sasha and Luca, behind in Spain.
Sasha was two months old at the time of Caballo’s departure for Australia. Luca was two years old.
“It was so hard,” he says. “I had two babies, I left in Spain two babies. When you are their father, it is so difficult.
“It had been a long time without them… when I went to train, when I come back home I felt so sad. Not always, because inside of the club there is amazing people. But when I come back home, you were alone. Sometimes you didn’t feel good. There are a lot of different hours, it’s not like the same hours. Maybe when I went to sleep my family wake up. Maybe you can talk with them for five hours or four hours.
“You remember, or you think, my kids need me… when we did the FaceTime, (do) they know I am (their) father? It’s hard.”
Caballo’s outlooked has improved dramatically since his families’ arrival in Sydney.
“Now, I am so happy. Seriously. I enjoy my life, my day, every day I try to do different things with them.
“When you stay with your family, when you have a bad day it doesn’t matter. When you come back home, your kids or your wife, they are smiling. And you forget the other thing.
“You can have a bad day, but I don’t care. Because your kids or your wife try to change your mind. Before, it (was) so hard because when you have a bad day it’s like… you fall asleep thinking about it. I had a bad day yesterday, maybe I will have tomorrow a bad day.
“This is the difference. And now it’s true, people say: ‘Oh you are playing much better now’. Yes, it’s true. Because I needed a little bit of time to learn a little bit of the language, to feel comfortable in another country… I am getting better because my mind is always working on football.”
And that mind is laser focussed on Sydney FC’s upcoming clash with the Wanderers at Allianz Stadium.
It’s the third instalment of the Sydney Derby on Saturday, March 18 (kick-off 7.45pm AEDT), with the bitter rivalry between the two clubs perfectly poised after a 1-0 win to either side across their past two meetings.
Caballo admits on both derby occasions this season, he’s been swept up in the emotion. The atmosphere generated by the 34,000-strong crowd at Allianz Stadium in Round 6 was matched in ferocity and passion by the near-27,000 who flocked to CommBank Stadium in Wanderland for the reverse fixture in February.
“For me, the derby was the atmosphere,” he says. “The noise, the support… when (we) lost the first game, it was like: ‘Okay, I have the other derby, maybe five or six weeks… you need to prepare to play this game. Okay, maybe it doesn’t matter the other game, but you win this game. Exactly, we go there and we did it. Simple, that.
“You don’t need to play (well). When you play the derby, you need to win. In the last minute, first minute, penalty, free-kick, whatever – but you win.”
Buy tickets to see Caballo in this weekend’s Sydney Derby!
MATCH DETAILS: SYDNEY DERBY
Sydney FC v Western Sydney Wanderers
Saturday, March 18 2023
Kick-off: 7.45pm AEDT
Allianz Stadium
MATCH CENTRE | BUY TICKETS
