The Dilemma of being half United and half Celta

This interview is courtesy of La Voz De Galicia.

Joseph Sexton, an Irishman, has been following Spanish football for more than two decades.  However, it was six years ago that he started to take interest in Celta from his partner. “When I started supporting the team in the Segunda (second) Division six years ago, I could not imagine that one day they would face United in a European semi-final,” he admits. Because Manchester United is one of his favorite teams along with Celta, and his home team,Cork City FC.

“This game is going to be a dilemma for me,” he says happily at the same time. Although he would have liked to see this clash as being the match for the title. “The ideal for me would have been an end in Stockholm with Guidetti and Zlatan in their own country. And that United had a place in the Champions League through the Premier, because that way I could support Celta 100% in the final”, he reflects. Faced with this different scenario, his heart is divided, but he is willing to enjoy the tie.  In addition, he will be there to see it live.

Beyond the matches that he has been able see for himself, Sexton has become accustomed to using the wonders of technology available to him. “In the world we live in today, global football is very accessible,” he says. And that has changed since he started to become a Celta fan. “It’s not like when I started to watch Spanish football,” he says. Then he had to settle for “a summary-program on an English channel and in Welsh language.”

He first came into contact with the side through a series of visits in 2012.  His love flowered further as a result of living in the region during the 2015/16 season.  “I had traveled a lot of times and then I lived there, working as an English teacher. Thus I had the opportunity to witness many matches at Balaídos”. Although he has yet to go full hog and buy a shirt for himself. “I’m a little fond of that fashion and more of the British style of wearing normal clothes instead of the colors of the team to the stadium. But as the shirt of Celta is so beautiful I will buy one, especially to take it in the pubs and to promote my identity as an amateur”, he says.

The people who surround him in his native Ireland are greatly surprised by his fondness for the Celtic. “It shocks them a lot. As happens in many parts of Spain, many of the international fans are either Real or Barça. I think they have little imagination. But of course, for many people it’s all about ‘the glory’ and being next to a regular winning team. “Now that glory of the European semifinal has come to him as an amateur of two of his three teams. Including the humble for which no one would have bet.

For the original Spanish version, click here

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