Belgian international midfielder Axel Witsel tracks his journey from a concrete pitch in Vottem to club success with Standard Liège, Benfica and now Zenit.
Early years …
I started playing football when I was four, in Vottem, which is a town in Liege province. I grew up on an estate there, where I also went to school. On the estate there was a football pitch called Montemauro, and just next to that there was a small concrete area, and that’s where I played football with my friends. Now, adjacent to the field, they’ve built a small covered sports complex which has been named after me.
My hero was always Zinédine Zidane, and that’s still the case today. Why Zidane? Because when I was small – as my father is from Martinique, a French territory – I often watched the French national team’s matches and I always liked Zidane. He became my idol.
Standard Liège…
I joined Standard when I was nine, went through all the youth teams and, at 16, became a professional. When I was ten, and me and my father were driving to training, I saw Standard’s stadium in the car mirror and said to my father that I would love to play there. He replied that I’d need to train hard to get there. So I always had that ambition.
Benfica…
I’d been playing for Standard for five or six years, and I wanted to play abroad. I wanted to play at a higher level. Benfica came calling, and for me at that time it was the best choice. I was very warmly welcomed by everyone – the whole team, the staff, the fans. I really enjoyed that year at Benfica. I really progressed. It’s thanks to Benfica that everyone in Europe knows the name ‘Witsel’.
Lisbon is an extraordinary city – I still have a house there. There’s a really good quality of life, the people are really friendly. The weather is also really good – it’s always warm, there’s no snow. Maybe in winter it rains a tiny bit, but even in winter it’s often 15 degrees.
Zenit…
Initially it wasn’t easy. Moving from Lisbon, where the weather is warm, and coming here where, yes the summer is hot, but in winter it can be -15C, -20C – that’s pretty difficult.
Zenit are a club that should be playing in the Champions League every season, but we weren’t good enough last season in the league. This time we’ll try to do better than last season, where we lost in the Europa League quarter-finals to Sevilla, a tie where I think we deserved more.
Our ambition, of course, is to win back the league title. Then we’d like to get to the Europa League semi-finals at least.
