It’s not all glitter and gold for footballers, folks. They suffer mental health breakdowns, too, with the costs taking a toll on their careers and family.
AC Milan and Spain striker Alvaro Morata told Spanish radio station COPE that he considered quitting the national team before the Euros.
Depression, in combination with panic attacks, forced the 31-year-old to nearly retire after last season.
“When you have really tough times, depression, panic attacks, it doesn’t matter what job you do, it doesn’t matter what situation you have in life, you have another person inside that you have to fight against every day, every night,” the player said. “In the end, for me, it was the best thing to leave Spain because there came a time when I couldn’t bear it.
“In the end we are what you see on TV, what you see on social networks, but it’s a world that is often not real. You have to give an image because it’s your job and yes, I had a really bad time, I exploded and there came a time when I couldn’t lace up my boots. When I laced up my boots I would run home because my throat would close up, I started to see blurry and it’s difficult.”
His anxiety reached a breaking point months before the Euros, which required Morata to go on medication and see a psychiatrist.
“I was thinking about whether I would be able to play in a match again. I don’t know what was happening to me, I didn’t know what was happening to me, but it’s very complicated, very delicate and at that moment when you realise that what you like most in the world is what you hate most, at that moment it’s complicated.
“Every time I went out with my children there was some episode with people, sometimes without malice. It reached a point that people said so many things to me that it made me ashamed to be with them. I was an easy joke to make people laugh. Often I have crossed the line. [People] have insulted me and I have tried to shame those people who were trying to make me feel bad. The Euros changed my life because they respect me more. That photo as a champion will always be there.”
Thankfully, the Spanish captain held on and led his team to the European Championship title. Thanks to footballers like Alvaro Morata for revealing the hardship behind the scene.
