Cristian Tello, who recently finished his soccer career, reviewed the passage through the sport-king and did not forget the times he lived in either Barcelona or FC Porto.
© Getty Images
08/10/2026
by
Ckristian Tello, former international by Spain, granted, early in the afternoon of Thursday, an extensive interview to the Spanish sports newspaper AS, in which, among other topics, spoke about the passage by FC Porto, club where he was between July 2014 and January 2016, at the time by loan from the Catalans of Barcelona.
Big promise from the club based in Camp Nou, Tello arrived in the city Invicta borrowed for two seasons, but in the middle of the second season ended up being returned to Barcelona.
Recently withdrawn from professional football, Cristian Tello already had several games on the main team of Barcelona, but the desire to have more minutes of play, as well as the fact that Spanish Julen Lopetegui is the coach of FC Porto, were decisive for the former extreme to head to the blue and white club.
“Leave Barcelona was a difficult time, a great responsibility. Because when you're on the best team in the world... He talked about it with Xavi in the locker room. And Xavi always said to me, ‘You should not leave Barcelona until they send you away’. And that's the way it is. Outside Barcelona, you realize that everything is different, you realize how big Barcelona is. And it's hard. I was young at the time, I wanted to have more protagonism, more confidence in the field. It coincided with Tata Martino's senior year. With Tito Vilanova, he had taken another step forward and was a protagonist. With Tata Martino, I hardly played anything. Neymar's here... But with Tito Vilanova he had minutes to play and was a protagonist. With Tata Martino, I didn't play anything and we went into the summer market. It is true that I waited to see who would come as a coach”, started by counting the Spanish, who decided to leave Catalonia after a conversation with Luis Enrique, who currently leads the destinations of Paris Saint-Germain.
“I talked to him and he told me he was counting on me. He had trusted me to Barcelona B. But I was sure you wanted out. And FC Porto had just hired Lopetegui, who had always trusted me, who had had me in the base categories of the selection...”the former player confessed, now 35 years old.
“ I have a very special memory of FC Porto. I'd always been home. He had played at Espanyol, Damm, Barcelona. For me, it was a very important step to leave with my wife and my newborn daughter. When I went to FC Porto, I had the feeling I hadn't left Barcelona. A very big club, an incredible cheerleader. A fantastic team. It was the same as Barcelona and was about to grow and continue to improve”, finished.
Cristian Tello played 57 games for FC Porto, having scored 10 goals and made many other assists.