“Every chapter in my life has started with a setback and a struggle,” Vincent Kompany says, “but there has been success or glory at the end. That doesn’t come by doubting yourself. It doesn’t come by giving up in difficult circumstances. Quite the opposite. It’s learning and staying calm in adversity. There is such a beautiful side to adversity.”
Kompany’s eloquence and intelligence light up a drab Monday morning in Manchester as we begin an interview that is unlike any other I’ve done with a footballer. The former Belgium and Manchester City captain, who now works as a player-manager at his boyhood club, Anderlecht, addresses systemic racism and the bleak rise of populism. He talks about Brexit, the lessons of vulnerability in his last season at City and the spatial awareness of Pep Guardiola.
Written by Donald McRae
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/nov/16/vincent-kompany-interview-anderlecht-manchester-city-belgium-donald-mcrae under the title “Vincent Kompany: ‘You never learn as much as when you get your arse kicked’”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
