We have asked an exclusive interview from David Babunski, the player of Mezőkövesd-Zsóry FC who started his young football career in La Masia, the youth system of FC Barcelona, where he spent 10 years. Although he didn’t make it into the first team, he played 48 matches in Barça Athletic (the former Barça B). The North Macedonian midfileder shared the dressing room with players like Adama Traore, Sergi Samper or Alejandro Grimaldo therefore he was able to tell us first-hand about his years in the Barcelona academy, his teammates during this exclusive interview with eurobarca.hu which his club also approved to make. We publish the interview in 3 parts in Hungarian and English languages.
In this 2nd part, he talks in detail about his time at La Masia, the circumstances of his departure and his present. The third part is available at the link at the end of the article.
Bruno: You could participate in the trainings of the first team. Whose trainings could you visit?
David: I trained when Pep Guardiola, Tito Vilanova, Tata Martino and Luis Enrique were the coaches.
Bruno: How can we imagine a training session of Pep Guardiola?
David: For me it was a privilege to train with Pep Guardiola, and absorb as much as I could of his instructions or his explanations of the game, and learn. Obviously those years were when Barça had a great success, 4-5 years in a row when they were dominating the world of football and it was such a privilege to learn from those players and play with them and see how they did the things on the pitch and corporate it into my own game.
Bruno: What is the main difference – besides the star players – between these training sessions and the ones of the youth teams?
David: That is the interesting thing, that there is not much difference. Because all categories train in a very similar way, with similar exercises, because in Barça they prepare you from a very early age to be able to be a player for the first team. That is the Barça philosophy, the system that we have there, and the identity. So that is why adapting to the training session of the first team is not so difficult, because the exercises were very similar. Rondo, ball positions, small size games, control and pass. Probably this describes the success of La Masía.
Bruno: You had classmates who are playing in top leagues now, like Adama Traoré, Denis Suarez, Munir, and also players like Samper or Grimaldo. Who were your friends there?
David: All of us were in a very good relationship. I have the most contact probably with Sergi Samper, we were together in Barça for many years, and then he came to Japan as well, so this got us a little closer together, and I also have a good relationship with Patrick, he plays in Lazio now.
Bruno: Do you often talk with the mentioned players or former teammates?
David: From time to time we check on each other how it is going with them, or we congratulate each other for some success.
Bruno: I guess you have a lot of anecdotes and stories…
David: I have for sure, but those are not for sharing (laughs).
Bruno: If someone got the opportunity from them in the first team… How did you feel? Were you jealous or could you honestly be happy for their success?
David: We were happy of course, because we were all there living this dream, we were in FC Barcelona and we knew how difficult it was being there and getting into the first team. Especially during those years when there was Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Messi, they could not be replaced. So if any of us could make it to be in the first team, it was something that we could all be happy about and celebrate, because it was so difficult.
Bruno: And did you make any special celebrations? Pranks?
David: Yes, yes. When someone came back after making the debut with the first team, obviously we made jokes and pranks with them, but we were really happy about their success.
Bruno: When you signed the new contract with Mezőkövesd, Sergi Roberto liked it on Instagram. First team players, journalists from Barcelona are following you. Are you still in contact with any of them?
David: With players like Sergi Roberto, Martín Montoya, Marc Muniesa, we always shared a taxi after training sessions. They are younger than the other guys, they are closer to my age, Rafinha and also Marc Bartra, who is playing in Trabzonspor now are in the same generation, we have a closer contact because of the age. This does not mean that we speak often, but sometimes we have a lot of friends in common, so if we go to Barcelona, we see each other often.
Bruno: When you got the contract with Barça B, was it a huge milestone or another contract like the one with the Juvenil?
David: It was a huge milestone, because I think only 4 or 5 players got it from the youth. After 3 years of Juvenil, you can make the jump for Barça B, it is a professional contract, in a professional division, which meant the second division that time, a very strong league. So it was a huge step forward, that is how I felt then, because not many of us had this chance. This meant the end of the Juvenil, and the others obviously had to find another club.
Bruno: You played almost 50 games and you scored one goal, against Alcorcón in a crazy game. Do you often recall this goal? Does it still mean a lot to you?
David: It does, because that goal… It meant to get up to the third position on the table, and if I guess, that is the best result in the history of Barça B. It was my first season in Barça B and we had a quite good season. I didn’t get too much playing time because I just got up from the Juvenil, there were more older players, so it was difficult to break through as a younger player in Barça B.
The video is blocked by LaLiga becaise of security, but if you click on ,,Megtekintés a YouTube-on” you can watch Babunski’s goal from 5:33
Bruno: Unfortunately you had to leave the team in 2016. While a lot of players are writing Instagram posts nowadays, you wrote a really emotional letter. Could I ask what were the circumstances that made you leave?
David: My third and last year for the second team, I arrived at the doors of the first team, but there was obviously no place for me. So I had to leave because in Barça B you cannot play after you are 21-22 years old. I decided to leave and start to build up my career outside of the Barça.
Bruno: Your letter, which I think was really emotional, but professional at the same time, can be a good motivation for the younger generation and the women players as well. At that time did it have any effects or consequences at the Barça?
David: It had a huge impact in the club, in the media, in Spain, in Catalunya, they all forwarded and published. This was something I wanted to express after a decade in FC Barcelona. I think it was an experience that was worth reflecting upon deeply, and I wrote those words to share them openly in the hope that it can be an inspiration for younger generations who were coming after me.
Bruno: After leaving Barcelona, you went to Red Star Belgrade. What was the biggest difference in the football culture, the teammates, the fan culture?
David: Everything was different, Bruno, everything. After many years, stepping out from Barça, I entered a whole new football world, and I was not familiar with it. Professional but with many other things interfering, which had nothing to do with football, and it was like coming out of Barcelona and entering this wild and very competitive world of football where I had to adapt and to learn very fast, so the difference was huge. The league, the training facilities, the competition, everything was different and new for me.
Bruno: What about the fans of the Crvena?
David: They are very fanatic, probably the best in the world. The soul of the club-Red Star is one of biggest of the ex-Yugoslavian clubs, so when they conquered the European title with Darko Pancev, friend of mine… It was a great experience, but footballwise it was not that good and I had to leave early, not even a year since I signed because of the problems that I wasn’t used to, no payment of the salaries, and very hard conditions for working…
Bruno: After this short chapter, you went to Japan. Why Japan? How did you get there and how could you adapt?
David: It was also very strange for me, because I had never expected that I could go to play in Japan at that age, but circumstances arranged that way that it happened, and I took the chance to go. My father played 25 years before there, in Gamba Osaka, he told me wonders about it. Actually I lived in Japan when I was two years old, although I don’t have too many memories. They always told me wonders about the culture, the country, the people, then I decided to take that train, and I can say it was one of the most beautiful experiences in my life, those three years.
Bruno: What was the strangest thing for you?
David: It is so different, they are so unique in their way, and so different from what we know about the culture, but if you maintain an open mind and you are willing to learn, it can reach you in so many ways to be living among the Japanese people. It did to me, it did to my family as well, and we just loved our experience in Japan, for sure in some days I go back.
Bruno: Why did you have to leave?
David: My contract expired in Omiya Ardija. I played 1 year and a half in Yokohama Marinos and another one and a half in the Omiya, and I wanted to come back to Europe to try to succeed here and try to find a first league club in Europe. It was very difficult to find a new club here after a few years in Asia, and then the Pandemic started, so it was difficult for everybody. I found a club in Romania, to stay there for one year, and I went to another club there for six months, then I joined Debrecen.
Bruno: You have lived in different cultures, played in different championships, which was the closest to you?
David: Moving around so much, not only in the career, but because of my father’s career we had to move from a very early age, so we got used to travel all over the world with my mother, and I think this helped us to have a very open mind and a very quick adaptation for any changing of the circumstances. So I easily could adapt to any culture, any circumstance I had to face, so I wouldn’t have any preference, I always found the positivity of all the cultures.
Bruno: We have talked about our country, but not about our football here. Are you satisfied with the circumstances in Mezőkövesd or all over in the Championship?
David: Yes, the league in Hungary is good in many ways, one of the most positive things is the infrastructure they have, the stadiums, the facilities for the training, you feel like a professional football player, I like that the country invests a lot in the sport, in the football as well. So this is a place where you can feel very comfortable, you have all the necessary things for you to focus on your performance, developing yourself, as a player, and financial issues are better than what you can find in other countries, like in Serbia and Romania.When it comes to the quality of the league, there is still room for improvement, but it is getting better season by season. Recently you have the success of the national team of Hungary, which is a good motivation to continue with the development of football here.
Bruno: One question about your brother. When you were playing in Debrecen, he also joined the club. Did you have any role that he joined?
David: No, he had a great season in Bulgaria, and the club was searching a striker. It is not that we would have forced or pushed them, it just happened, and aligned this situation to come true. But it was very special for us that it could happen and we could play together, for the same time.
Bruno: You played against each other. It is hard to imagine how to play against your brother, to tackle him…
David: There werea couple of situations when we got close to each other. We played against each other in Japan, we had this last 15 minutes, it was a very special moment, and we played against each other in a Mezőkövesd – Debrecen game a few months ago. If I have to tackle him, I will, because I play for my team, I play professionally, and he plays now for Debrecen, so there is no mercy on the pitch. I mean, we have been competing against each other since we were kids in all the games, on PlayStation, outdoors in all the different sports, but Ihave a really close connection and relationship with my brother.
Bruno: Here in Mezőkövesd, but all over the world you could have played with many foreign players from a lot placesNow you have teammates from the Comoros and from Martinique for example, do you spend time together outside of the trainings and games?
David: Yes, yes. I think this is one of the most beautiful things of this sport, football, the opportunity it gives us to meet people from different cultures and places from the world, establish friendships, it reduces the differences which we think we, humans have, one of the power of football is this, it builds bridges between people. So it is one of the things I really love of this sport.
Bruno: Right now the situation of the Mezőkövesd is not the best according to the league table, you are 3 points from the relegation, and 6 points from the 4th place, which means European competition. What is the main objective for the team now? Are you thinking about the 4th place or the 10th?
David: Now I think after the enforcement of the team, because 7 players arrived this winter, our ambitions are higher, so we are going to aim for the top four places. This league is like this, very competitive, we have same points as Fehérvár, 5-6 other teams are one game away, one win or one defeat about getting closer to the top 3 or the relegation zone.
You can read the third part of the interview below
EuroBarça exclusive with David Babunski – III. part: “Barcelona won the lottery with Gavi and Pedri”
