Sergey PogrebnyakSports correspondentAll materialsEmail to the authorNot even a day has passed since the departure of Paolo Vanoli, as Spartak decided on the candidacy of a new head coach. They became the 33-year-old Spaniard Guillermo Abascal, who last season led the Swiss Basel. Trained in Barcelona Abascal was born in Seville and started playing football as a child. In his youth, the boy stood out from his peers and at the age of 13 he ended up in the famous La Masia. Guillermo played for the same age team with Jordi Alba and Bojan Krkic, who was pulled up to work with older guys. As a result, the future coach lost the competition to the Spanish-Serbian striker and returned home. After returning from Barcelona, progress was not made, and at the age of 18, Abascal decided to end his career. But football remained the passion of the young Spaniard, who continued to look for a new occupation in this area. Guillermo went to study and received a master's degree at the faculty of «physical training and rehabilitation of football players with injuries.» He was noticed by Emery After receiving his diploma, he was sheltered by his native Sevilla. Abascal first worked with youth teams, where he served as a fitness coach, assistant and head of the youth department. The specialist was able to prove himself worthy in order to attract the attention of the coach of the base, which was then headed by Unai Emery. The former Spartak mentor invited Abascal to be an analyst in the first team, in which he worked until 2017. Having had enough of work in the headquarters, he decided to focus on his solo career. The first independent place of work was a club called Chiasso, which lived in the second division of Switzerland. The specialist spent almost a year there, but was fired after a series of unsuccessful matches.
Unai EmeryHowever, our hero still managed to prove himself. Guillermo went on promotion, leading the “Lugano” from the championship of Switzerland. This appointment brought him popularity, as he became the youngest head coach among the top 30 European leagues at the age of 28. The club lacked only three points to get into European competition, after which Abascal moved to Italy. There he worked with the youth and main team of Ascoli, after which he ended up in Switzerland through the Greek club Volos. In Italy, by the way, he won his only trophy so far in his career as a head coach — the title of champion of one of the Italian youth championships with the guys from Ascoli. The Spaniard was invited to the club in January of this year as an assistant to Swiss Patrick Rahmen. But already in February, the club bosses decided to fire the head coach. The team shared second place with Young Boys and lagged behind the leading Zurich by 10 points by that time. The Swiss press called this appointment a big advance for Abascal, who for several years has been compared with Domenico Tedesco and Julian Nagelsmann. But it is too early for him to measure his achievements with his colleagues. Basel ended the season in second place, 14 points behind the champions. Under his leadership, Basel scored 22 points in 14 rounds, which can hardly be called an outstanding result. The media was perplexed by the fact that Abascal allowed himself to publicly criticize the players in the press after unsuccessful results. As a result, the club's management planned to give Guillermo a second team, and to invite a new specialist to the post of head coach. But Spartak intervened, luring the Spaniard.
Fedor ChalovIn Switzerland, Abascal managed to work with a Russian footballer. Fedor Chalov went on loan to Basel in the winter. The forward immediately began to play in the starting lineup, but then lost his place in the base. It was Guillermo who moved him to the bench, who took over the base in February. Guillermo's views on football «In today's football, hardly anyone prefers to be recognized for style without being appreciated. To be recognized, you need results. To be appreciated, you need people who believe in you,” says Abascal’s quote from the main page of his website. Yes, the new Spartak coach has his own website, which talks about the coach’s path and provides access to some of his interviews. From them you can get information about his methods of work. Guillermo prefers to play in a 4-3-3 formation, but puts more emphasis on the players and their abilities. «I don't really believe in systems and formations, but I believe in players. I can use a specific formation in order to better reveal the characteristics of players and gave them confidence and the opportunity to show their maximum, «the Spaniard admitted. After being appointed to Basel, he noted that pressure from the fans was not a problem for him:» Such pressure only gives me additional motivation. It helps me work and improve your level.» Such an attitude to work will definitely benefit the coach, who will have to face the fans of the “red-whites”.
