为你读书：《卢卡库：我有些话要说（连载2）》

导读

罗梅卢·卢卡库（Romelu Lukaku），这位比利时前锋是世界足坛最受关注的球星之一，却有着很多不为人知的过去。在2018世界杯开赛前，他在The Players’Tribune（《球星看台》）上撰文I've Got Some Things to Say，回忆自己过去的时光与成长的历程。

 

 

 

 

文章连载

 

People in football love to talk about mental strength. Well, I’m the strongest dude you’re ever going to meet. Because I remember sitting in the dark with my brother and my mom, saying our prayers, and thinking, believing, knowing… it’s going to happen.

你们总是喜欢讨论我的精神很强大，我告诉你：我会是你们见过的最具意志力的球员，因为我永远记得那些和我母亲和弟弟坐在黑暗中的日子，祷告着。然后祷告、相信、知道他们终将会实现。

 

I kept my promise to myself for a while. But then some days I’d come home from school and find my mum crying. So I finally told her one day, “Mum, it’s gonna change. You’ll see. I’m going to play football for Anderlecht, and it’s going to happen soon. We’ll be good. You won’t have to worry anymore.”

我遵守承诺有好一阵子，后来过了些日子，当我从学校回到家时，母亲正在哭泣。我对她说：“妈妈,一切都会改变的，你会看到的。等我去安德莱赫特踢球，我们就会过的很好了。你再也不需要担心了。”

 

I was six. I asked my father, “When can you start playing professional football?”

我当时6岁。我问我父亲：“你什么时候可以开始踢职业足球？”

 

He said, “Sixteen.”

他说：“16岁”。

 

I said, “O.K., sixteen then.”

我说：“好，那就16岁。

 

It was going to happen. Period.
这一定会实现的。完毕。

 

Let me tell you something — every game I ever played was a Final. When I played in the park, it was a Final. When I played during break in kindergarten, it was a Final. I’m dead-ass serious. I used to try to tear the cover off the ball every time I shot it. Full power. We weren’t hitting R1, bro. No finesse shot. I didn’t have the new FIFA. I didn’t have a Playstation. I wasn’t playing around. I was trying to kill you.

让我告诉你们吧：我踢的每一场比赛对我来说都是决赛。我在公园里踢球，那是决赛。我在幼儿园休息时候踢球，那是决赛。我像驴一样严肃。每次射门时，我曾经都想要把足球都踢爆，用尽我全部力气。我们不是在打R1。不会有用策略的射门。我甚至没有玩过新的FIFA游戏，我没有PS游戏机。我不是在跟你们随便玩玩，我在尽力打败你们。

 

When I started growing taller, some of the teachers and the parents would be stressing me. I’ll never forget the first time I heard one of the adults say, “Hey, how old are you? What year were you born?”

当我逐渐长高时,一些老师和家长开始为难我。我永远不会忘记我第一次听到其中一个成年人说："hey，你多大了，你是哪年出生的?”

 

I’m like, What? Are you serious?

当时我想：“什么？你是认真的吗？”

 

 

When I was 11 years old, I was playing for the Lièrse youth team, and one of the parents from the other team literally tried to stop me from going on the pitch. He was like, “How old is this kid? Where is his I.D.? Where is he from?”

11岁时，我在利亚斯青年队踢球，其他球队的一位球员家长直接想不让我上场，他好像在说：“这孩子多大了？他是哪来的？他的身份证在哪？”

 

I thought, Where am I from? What? I was born in Antwerp. I’m from Belgium.

我想：“我是哪来的？我出生在安特卫普，我是比利时人啊。”

 

My dad wasn’t there, because he didn’t have a car to drive to my away games. I was all alone, and I had to stand up for myself. I went and got my I.D. from my bag and showed it to all the parents, and they were passing it around inspecting it, and I remember the blood just rushing through me… and I thought, “Oh, I’m gonna kill your son even more now. I was already going to kill him, but now I’m gonna destroy him. You’re gonna drive the boy home crying now.”

我父亲不在场，因为他没有车，没办法开车去看我的客场比赛，我只能孤零零地为自己辩护。我从包里拿出身份证给所有的家长们看，他们传阅着检查，我现在都记得那种热血冲上脑子的感觉。我当时在想：“我更想把你们的孩子都干掉，我已经准备好去干掉他们了。但现在我只需要去摧毁他们，待会你会开车载着你哭哭啼啼的孩子回家的”。

 

I wanted to be the best footballer in Belgian history. That was my goal. Not good. Not great. The best. I played with so much anger, because of a lot of things … because of the rats running around in our apartment … because I couldn’t watch the Champions League … because of how the other parents used to look at me.

我想要成为比利时历史上的最佳球员。那就是我当时的目标。不是好球员，也不是比较好的球员，是最好的球员。我当时是带着怒火踢球的：因为我们公寓里飞奔的老鼠，因为我家没法看欧冠比赛，因为别的家长对待我的方式。

 

I was on a mission.

这是我的任务。

 

When I was 12, I scored 76 goals in 34 games.

12岁的时候，我在34场比赛中进了76球。

 

I scored them all wearing my dad’s shoes. Once our feet got to be the same size, we used to share.

所有进球都是穿着我父亲的鞋子打进的。当我们的脚差不多大时，我们共穿一双鞋。