“We’ll keep promoting beautiful football like Barca’s…” – Rafa Marquez
The relationship between Atlas and Rafa Marquez runs deep. Marquez started his legendary career with them and ended his playing career there, as well. Now that Marquez is ready for the next stage of his career, Atlas has once again shown their love and respect for him by presenting him as the sporting director.
This is a great move by Atlas who is struggling to start the season, with only one point in three matches. Adding someone like Marquez, who has plenty of football knowledge and years of experience playing in Europe, can bring a lot to the table and instill new philosophies and recruiting methods that can improve the club.
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In his press conference, Marquez said,
"“We’ll keep promoting beautiful football like Barca’s, where I played and learned a lot, because the DNAs of Atlas and Barcelona are similar. I want to have a competitive team where the results are consistently positive, where we can maintain a balance for a long time and obviously compete for that longed-for title.”"
Like every new director, Marquez mentions his goal is to bring a title to Atlas. The key here is how Marquez will try to copy the Barcelona blueprint to make Atlas a competitive and respected team again.
This is a good move for not only Atlas but for the Mexican soccer federation. If Marquez really wants to improve Atlas by doing it the Barcelona way, then he will promote players from within, which then means more young Mexican players will get to see more action at the top club level. That will only add more talent and depth for the national team.
For the sake of Atlas and the Mexican football federation, I hope this move works and that Rafa Marquez is able to deliver in the clutch just like he did for Atlas and Mexico in his playing days.