Lluís Tarrés: ‘Debuting with the Almeria first-team was a dream come true’

Lluís Tarrés, who is 19 years old, is building a successful football career at UD Almería. Last season he arrived at the club to defend the Almeria Under-19’s goal in the Division de Honor Juvenil, which is the top level of the Spanish football league system for youth players 18 years old and under. After resuming training after lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he was called up to train with the first-team.

The Blanes-born player started the pre-season with the Almeria second-team with whom he will compete in the forthcoming 2020/21 campaign, although he has also been called up to join the first-team’s get-together in Marbella. Last Wednesday he made his debut in defending the Rojiblancos’ goal against top-flight club Betis in the absence of keeper Fernando and not surprisingly, he impressed everyone with his outstanding performance; in fact, he was one of the best players of the meeting.

‘Debuting with the Almeria first-team was a dream come true since this is the club in which I want to grow as a pro footballer and develop my football career,’ exclaimed with delight the Rojiblanco goalie. In this sense, the young player added that ‘I’ll never forget this game because we faced Betis, a club with great potential. Unlike us, they actually had more time for training in the pre-season.’

The UD Almería goalkeeper was absolutely outstanding on the pitch, and as he admitted ‘the truth is that I enjoyed the game so much that then I went to bed calm and pleased with my performance.’ He even spoiled several goals from opponents such as Borja Iglesias, who could not win the one-on-one battle. In this regard, he commented that ‘needless to say, I’m proud of myself for stopping goals from quality players competing in the top-flight.’

Lluís pointed out that ‘My team-mates strongly support me. In the end, I received loads of congratulation messages. It was all very special, but I just want to kick on now.’