He is our old friend! He came from a sports-loving family. RB Leipzig striker Dani Olmo started playing football since walking and never stopped. In 2014, he joined Dinamo in Belgrade from Barcelona at the age of 16, spent 6 years in Croatia, and was nominated as the best player of the year in Croatia until the transfer to RB Leipzig in 2020. Following the new team, he won the /22 season and the /23 season German Cup Championship successively. As an offensive midfield and winger, the 25-year-old Spanish international, known for its technology, scored the first goal of the Spanish national team in the 2022 World Cup. On the present, he likes to teach children to play football. Every summer, he will spare several weeks to participate in children’s football summer camp and raise money for children suffering from cancer for four consecutive years. Please follow our chat to learn about his childhood memories, his time in Dinamo, Belgrade, and his ambition in RB Leipzig. Q: Did you spend your vacation with henridges? Where have you been? Olmo: “We went to Greece. I stayed for a week. He played for a while more than him, because I was going to the national team for training. We had a good time there with our friends. Last year, we were discussing the holiday together, and this year we got what we wanted, which was great.” Q: Talk about your children’s summer camp? Olmo: “My children here are usually 5-16 years old. This is the fourth year of our summer camp. For an organization that specializes in raising funds for cancer children, all this is for charity, I am very happy to see more and more children coming to my football summer camp.” Q: So is the income from summer camp activities used to help children with cancer? Olmo: “Yes, this organization is AFANOC, which provides free hospital treatment for cancer children in Barcelona.” Q: What is your motivation for doing this? Olmo: “I had this plan a long time ago, and now it is the fourth year. Before organizing summer camp activities, I have already started to negotiate and cooperate with them. I just want to do something for the society, it is a good way and opportunity to connect this with my summer camp.” Q: When did you start playing football? Olmo: “I have a brother who started playing football before me. When I was young, he took me to the stadium, so I started playing when I was 2 or 3 years old.” Q: How does it feel to play football with my brother? Olmo: “It’s very interesting. When you were a child, you learned to enjoy playing football. You had a good time playing football and then felt that other things were not important, this is football.” Q: I heard that your father also likes football? Olmo: “Yes, when he saw that we like playing football, he was very happy and he would play with us.” Q: So your whole family loves football? Olmo: “Yes, my uncle is a football coach and my aunt is a basketball player, so we are a sports family.” Q: What do you think has the greatest impact on your career? Olmo: “I think when you are young, you must always remind yourself to keep improving. I spent six years in Barcelona training camp and then went to Zagreb. La Masia made me improve a lot.” Q: As a young player, why did you choose Dinamo in Belgrade? Olmo: “They have prepared a very good development plan for me, and it has always been the cradle of young players. When I was 16 years old, I could already train with the first team, I have five chances to play in the first season, which is already a lot, which helps me improve my level.” Q: You renewed your contract with Leipzig until 2027. What made you decide to stay here? Olmo: “I am very happy to renew my contract with the team. I will stay here because we have a good team and we want to have a good time together. The future plans of Ebel and rozer inspired me to stay, which is why I renewed my contract.” Q: So far, how is 2023 for you? Olmo: “This is a very good year. I won two championships (German Cup and European league). Personally, I think I can do better. For some reasons, I missed a lot of matches, I will pursue more honors in the new season.” Q: Do you think Bayern’s performance in the second half of last season was a struggle? Olmo: “I don’t think so. They have very good players. They have always been top teams. Now we have a chance to challenge them again to compete for the first championship this season, we did well in the preseason and we are ready!” Q: Leipzig was 6 points behind Bayern and Dort last season. How do you think we should continue to improve? Olmo: “We need to maintain a high level of performance throughout the season. Our start performance last season was not good. Of course, at any time we may lose some points due to mistakes, our goal this season is still to win every match.” Q: After sobossroy, enkunku, Geva Dior and Lemmel left, what changes did the team have? Olmo: “It’s very difficult for us. I have a very good relationship with them, especially sobosloy. This is the flow that players have to face, they were too important for us last season. We have to look forward this season and we have many excellent teammates.” Q: What changes will newcomers make to you? Olmo: “There is no change. New players come here with ambition, and I will continue to help the team.” (Li Baqiao) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Li Baqiao column: Football world from Bundesliga to feelings
