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00:00What's up with football, Salty?
00:03I haven't played in a long time.
00:06I read that you said, I want to go to one of the best clubs in the world, but I won't say which one, because if I do, it won't be fulfilled.
00:13Now we can say that everything went well.
00:15Everything went 100% the way I wanted it to.
00:24What do you think about the fans in Italy?
00:26The derby, Milan-Inter, it's crazy. How they cheer the whole match and how they live football.
00:32How do you get on with the singing?
00:33Santi, I do, Santi, I do, Jiménez.
00:53Santi, welcome to Milan. How are you feeling?
00:56I'm very happy. I've received a lot of love from the club and the staff.
01:01And soon we'll meet the fans, so I'm very happy.
01:04We're going to do a special interview. We play football, me against you.
01:08If I score, I'll ask you a question off the pitch.
01:11If you score, I'll ask you a question connected to the pitch.
01:15Ok, perfect.
01:16Is everything clear? Are you ready?
01:24What's up with football, Salty?
01:26I haven't played in a long time.
01:31Tell us a little bit more about your childhood,
01:34about moving from Argentina to Mexico and the importance that country had for you.
01:40Argentina is a country that I love, where my whole family lives,
01:45where I lived my first four years of life.
01:49Then, obviously, because of my father's work, who was a football player,
01:54he had to go to Mexico.
01:57And that's when, as a child, I accompanied him to Mexico.
02:02And all my childhood, all my life, I did it in Mexico.
02:06But yes, without a doubt, Argentina is a country where I feel very identified as a Mexican.
02:14If I had to choose, obviously, I feel more Mexican
02:18for the simple fact that all my life, since I was a child, I had to live in Mexico.
02:23And Argentina carries it in my heart too.
02:32Salty, my impression, to reiterate in old interviews,
02:36is that you have always had your path clear.
02:39First Mexico, then the first step in Europe to grow,
02:43but the dream and the goal of playing in the first five leagues of Europe,
02:48without ever hiding your preference for the Italian league, right?
02:52I've been a football fan since I was a kid and I've always loved watching it.
02:56And it was the time for me when the Italian league was number one,
03:01and that has also made me continue to this day.
03:04I read that you said, I want to go to one of the best clubs in the world,
03:08but I won't say which one, because if I say it, it won't be fulfilled.
03:11Now we can say that everything went well.
03:13Everything went 100% as I wanted.
03:23Ah!
03:27Salty, tell us about these last few weeks, please,
03:29because you mentioned that you had looked for Milan in the summer,
03:33but how did you live the wait and affection of the fans,
03:37for example, on social media?
03:39It gave me the impression that you were impatient to get on that plane.
03:45No, well, since I was a kid, I've always seen Milan.
03:51It's one of the teams I was in love with when I was a kid.
03:55I saw Kaká, well, in that team there was David Becca,
04:01Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Pirlo, Gattuso,
04:04all those players who impressed the world.
04:09And since I was a kid, it was always my dream.
04:13When they called me, I had already said it before,
04:15it was like, wow, I have this opportunity, and I didn't want to let it go.
04:20What do you tell me about that?
04:22Yes, yes, and that is one of the thousands of photos I have with the Milan shirt.
04:28And that one?
04:29Also, also, I knew Kaká, who is also a reference of mine,
04:35not only because of football, but also because we share the same faith.
04:38And he gave me words of motivation, of faith, and it motivated me.
04:43And from there I knew that Milan was a destiny that had to be.
04:53Santi, what does the goal mean to you?
04:55The goal has a meaning beyond just football.
05:00And you're going to say that I'm heavy with faith,
05:03but thanking God on my knees in front of the whole stadium and in front of millions of cameras
05:08for me is the best way to give him glory
05:12and also to be an example that with God everything is possible.
05:16And for a striker?
05:19And for a striker, the goal is everything.
05:22Strikers live from the goal, and the only way to give that happiness to the fans,
05:29to give them back the happiness they give you,
05:32is by scoring goals and letting them celebrate a lot of goals.
05:49Milan has 125 years of history, players of 57 nationalities,
05:54but you are the first Mexican.
05:56Is it an additional reason for pride for you?
05:58Yes, it is a pride.
06:00The simple fact of being here in Milan, regardless of nationality,
06:04is a pride and I want to represent these colors in the best way.
06:09How much does the idea of playing a World Cup at home motivate you,
06:12like the one next year, to do well with the club?
06:16A lot, a lot.
06:18For me, there is no greater pride than representing the national team, your country.
06:23So it is a pride to be able to play a World Cup at home.
06:27But in the end, the team is built, or each player is built on his team.
06:32And today I have in mind to give everything here in Milan
06:36to be able to do well in the World Cup, but also to give a lot of joy here.
06:41Let's play!
06:53Yes!
06:55We talked about Mexico, but you also have an Italian passport.
06:59Can you tell us more about your relationship with our country?
07:03Yes, my great-grandfather was born here in Italy, he is Italian,
07:09and thanks to that I was able to have the Italian passport.
07:12Also, being Italian, I am ashamed of not being able to speak Italian,
07:17so I am going to take classes and I am going to learn quickly.
07:20What about the language? Zero?
07:22Zero for now, but I understand a little because it is similar to Spanish,
07:26and now I have a lot of classes to be able to speak it.
07:33Yes!
07:36I see a cross on your neck.
07:38What does religion, faith and being a soldier of Christ mean to you?
07:43For me, it means everything, all my life.
07:47At a time when I couldn't find the way, I found Jesus Christ
07:52and He showed me the way of life, and that is very important to me.
07:56Everything is based on that, on my faith, and I believe that everything is possible with God.
08:02When did that path begin?
08:03It began when I had a thrombosis in my arm,
08:06and once the doctors told me that I had to stop playing football.
08:10That was when I met Christ, and He did the miracle.
08:16And I was able to play again.
08:24Santi, you have always taken number 9 or 29,
08:28but here they were busy with Jovic and Fofana.
08:32Is there any meaning behind number 7?
08:35No, well, first of all, number 29 is the number with which I made my debut,
08:40the number where I started in Feyenoord as well.
08:43Number 29 has a very special meaning.
08:46Number 11 in the national team also has a special meaning.
08:50Since I wasn't in any of the two, number 7 was available.
08:54I tried to find a meaning, and there is one,
08:58there is a very important one, and it is that it is the perfect number in the Bible.
09:05Yes!
09:07On the first shot.
09:08When do you feel really happy, 100%?
09:12Every time I am with my family.
09:15I think that is the highest level of happiness I reach,
09:19because I am a man of the house, a man of the family,
09:23and they make me feel a lot of love, a lot of happiness.
09:27So, when I am with them, and when I have my mornings in my personal relationship with God,
09:34I think they are the happiest moments.
09:36You have a father who was a player, a very present mother,
09:42a girl who is your wife for a few months.
09:45Yes.
09:46I ask you, would you like to make a debut now?
09:50Yes, yes, I would like to, I would like to.
09:52The plans are in place, we are still waiting a little,
09:56we want to travel a little more, enjoy a little more,
09:59and then take that responsibility.
10:02It would be incredible.
10:03It would be incredible.
10:07Ah!
10:12What does pressure mean to you?
10:15I think that in these instances, football is played with a lot of pressure
10:20because of the passion that the fans live.
10:23Many fans depend on their team, right?
10:26And they have a good week, a bad week, it depends on how the team is going,
10:30and that's where the pressure comes from.
10:32But I think that the pressure is handled by giving everything on the pitch.
10:35Leaving the pitch and saying, well, I did everything, I left everything,
10:39and in the end you can give, you can not give the result because it is football,
10:44but as long as you leave the pitch leaving everything,
10:47you will be calm and you will be able to handle that pressure.
10:50What idea do you have of the fans in Italy?
10:53Well, I had to play against Lazio, against Roma,
10:56and the game is very intense.
10:58But well, the derby, Milan-Inter, it's crazy.
11:02It's crazy how they encourage the whole game and how they live football.
11:08You're good, huh?
11:09Ah!
11:10You let me score goals very easily.
11:11We are finishing.
11:12What is the best advice or teaching that you have received in your life?
11:16I remember the night when they told me about football,
11:21that I could stop playing football.
11:23I locked myself in a room with my dad and I asked him,
11:26why did this happen to me, if I loved football and all that.
11:31And he answered me that he did not know, that he should ask God.
11:35And after that advice, my life changed completely.
11:39You started the path.
11:41I started the path with God, with faith.
11:43Of course, just as he told me, I started talking to God and He answered me.
11:56Santi, last night you played a rather curious prank.
11:59How did you react when you saw Milan in the Champions League draw,
12:03until a few days later?
12:05And today I ask you, what feeling does it cause you to return to Rotterdam
12:09after only two weeks?
12:11Well, there are many mixed feelings.
12:15Sincerely, I wanted it to be Milan-Feyenoord.
12:19I wanted it to be Milan-Feyenoord.
12:21Sincerely, I wanted it to be Milan-Feyenoord.
12:26In the sense that if I had to be in Feyenoord,
12:30I was going to face the team I dreamed of playing for.
12:34And now that I have to be here in Milan,
12:37it will be beautiful for me to meet my family in Rotterdam,
12:41with Feyenoord, with this club that I love so much.
12:45And that I can also say goodbye to that club,
12:49that beautiful team that we lived beautiful moments with.
12:52And it's going to be a special night, for sure.
12:54The last one.
12:59I'm winning.
13:00You're winning?
13:07Congratulations.
13:09Tell us quickly the reason for the nickname Bebote.
13:13And above all, I ask you now that football has become a job for you.
13:18What is left in Santiago's child's football?
13:21In that child is the passion, the fun with which I go out on the pitch.
13:26Normally, when we are children, we play without pressure,
13:29with a lot of passion, having fun, no matter what the other thinks.
13:33And when you get to the first division,
13:35many times you think, what will he say?
13:37What will the other say?
13:38What will this fan say?
13:40And that sometimes makes you not play freely.
13:44And something that I focus on a lot is trying to play like a child.
13:49Without pressure, with a lot of passion, free and having fun.
13:53So that's what I'm never going to lose from being a child.
13:56And the second, the Bebote comes from family.
14:00My parents, my whole family called me Bebote when I was a child,
14:03because I was small, but at the same time I was big.
14:06I mean, I was young, but I was very big.
14:09I was bigger than my teammates and everyone else.
14:11So they called me Bebote because I was a big baby.
14:14And in the end, a friend of my father, who was on television,
14:18his name was Tito Villa,
14:20he was very close to the family, he was very close to home.
14:23And he knew that they called me Bebote, the intern.
14:26And once he was a commentator.
14:29So once I scored a goal and he said, Bebote's goal!
14:32And then everyone started to know that I was Bebote.
14:35Wow. Santi, you won, congratulations.
14:38Congratulations, but I ask you one last thing, a little bit particular.
14:41How are you doing with singing?
14:43With singing? No, very bad.
14:45Because I'm not very good, but would you help me?
14:48Let's see.
14:49If I tell you, Santi, Santi...
15:01Wow, we're ready. Santi, congratulations.
15:04Good luck.
15:05Ciao, Rossoneri. I'm Santiago Jimenez.
15:08I hope to see you soon on the pitch.
15:10Let's celebrate a lot of goals together and a lot of victories, obviously.