Willy Caballero: ‘My daughter had cancer in the eyes, so I don’t let football stress me’
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WILLY CABALLERO can put it all in perspective.
He rarely gets fazed by football, even if Manchester City have been picked apart by critics after crashing out of the Champions League.
Having watched his daughter Guillermina’s brave health battle he knows what really matters.
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She was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer in 2006, so everything that comes with being a City keeper is easy to ignore — as are moaning players.
Caballero, 35, said: “When you are in a team sometimes you hear ‘Blah, blah, blah’ complaining all the time about small things.
“I am sure nobody has to go through what we did to see a different way to live.
“I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. But it was my life so I am really happy now. My family is happy now, we are safe and we are enjoying our days here.
“She is happy and that is the most important. Life is the most important. Always.”
Guillermina is 14 now and one of Caballero’s proudest moments was having her watch him perform heroics as City won the League Cup final last season against Liverpool.
He faces the same opponents today and Guillermina is likely to be in the crowd again.
It was 11 years ago that Caballero needed to go back to Argentina — on loan at Arsenal Sarandi — as treatment started for his eldest daughter.
Caballero said: “She had cancer in both eyes and we could save just one.
“The treatment was three, four, five years of chemotherapy to try to protect both eyes — but it was not possible.
“So the doctor had to carry out surgery and she lost one eye.
“After that, it took a long time for doctors to say she was safe.
“She is now asking me everything about football and is more interested. I’ve explained offside to her 11 or 12 times!”
It is understandable that Caballero’s own ambitions came second to his daughter’s well-being.
But he was carving out a decent enough career with Elche in the second tier of Spanish football.
Caballero said: “I had to start all the way down the divisions and that is really difficult.
“You might be playing well and having great performances — but nobody ever watched us.”
Yet his big break came with a move to Malaga under Manuel Pellegrini, who then took him to the Etihad when he became City manager.
In last season’s League Cup final, Pell was under massive pressure to axe the Argie after his shocking display the previous week against Chelsea.
But his faith was rewarded with three penalty saves in the shootout — sparking emotional scenes among the goalkeeper and his family.
Caballero said: “I believed my family needed to feel, not that I am good or a great keeper, but that I am happy and we can be happy.
“For this, my family is the most important thing I have.
“In the past I earned a lot of trophies with Boca Juniors and the national team.
“But this was the first time that I had achieved something big for my family and it was very emotional.
“Pressure on Manuel to change the keeper was very big — but when he told me I would be playing at Wembley in the final it just made me feel even stronger.”
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Caballero is loving family life in Manchester. He often takes Guillermina and his other daughter Itanna to the Trafford Centre cinema. And if City asked him to stay beyond this summer, when his contract runs out, you suspect he would.
Life is certainly sweet on the pitch now he is ahead of Claudio Bravo in the goalkeeping pecking order under boss Pep Guardiola.
And rival Bravo has helped him with his distribution, just as Joe Hart was a huge support for him when he first arrived in English football.
Now there is the prospect of playing against his pal Hart, if he moves in the summer.
Cabellero said: “I remember Joe running very fast at Wembley to hug me and I will always remember his good words to me.
“But that is how Joe is. Every time I played, he helped me a lot. He taught me a lot about the Premier League and the different strikers.
“He will always be my friend because he is a good person and we still talk.
“When I play for City I know he is watching and I always try to watch Joe when he is playing on loan for Torino.”
But at the moment it looks like Cabellero is more likely to stay at the club than his pal Hart.
Third-placed City are desperate for a win today against a team breathing down their necks in the race to secure Champions League football.
Asked about his own future, Caballero said: “I am really happy here in Manchester and we will just see what happens in the future.
“I just enjoy playing every single game now.
“Of course I know that I am finishing my contract in the summer but I am just thinking about doing my best to keep the jersey for the rest of the season.”
And Caballero is making his family very proud while he is doing that.
Caballero was speaking at the launch of Manchester City’s partnership with Nexen Tire; the first Premier League club sleeve partnership to be announced.