Rafa Márquez, Mexico’s best soccer player, is the issue of a new Netflix documentary

Rafael Márquez Álvarez is arguably the most accomplished participant in the record of Mexican soccer.

Lovingly referred to as “El Káiser de Michoacán,” “El Duque de Catalunya” or basically “Rafa,” Márquez has had a storied career that lasted for a lot more than two many years. He won domestic and intercontinental championships in four international locations and captained the Mexican countrywide staff in five consecutive Earth Cup tournaments.

He’s also the matter of “Rafa Márquez: El Capitán,” a Netflix documentary that premiered earlier this month.

Directed by Carlos Armella and penned by journalist León Krauze, the production joins “Maradona In Mexico,” “Pelé” and “Beckham” as component of the streamer’s rising library of soccer-centric documentaries that heart on an athlete and their profession.

“It’s exciting because, in my non-public existence, I have usually been incredibly airtight. I don’t imagine I have at any time had the temptation to make a documentary,” Márquez explained, adding that he experienced been approached by numerous generation companies about doing work on this kind of a job. Doubtful of how, or even if, to move ahead with the thought, he reached out to his close friend Pablo Cruz, co-founder of El Estudio.

“[Cruz] sooner or later entertains the notion of ‘Hey, why really do not we make it ourselves? Because, ultimately, there is now a friendship between us and lots of have faith in,’ ” explained Márquez. “From that viewpoint, I stated, ‘Well, there’s a lot of believe in, so I feel I can talk about items with you extra than I would with someone else.’ ”

The film follows Márquez’s trajectory on the pitch, commencing with the younger defender’s shorter but crucial stint with Mexican club Atlas FC before shifting on to his glory days in Europe. With AS Monaco, he turned the initial Mexican footballer to perform and earn a title in France’s Ligue 1. At FC Barcelona, Márquez made heritage still all over again, starting to be the very first participant of Mexican descent to gain the UEFA Champions League.

For just about every bit of glory, having said that, there’s also discomfort. The documentary handles Mexico’s upset decline to the United States at the 2002 FIFA Entire world Cup, a match that birthed the now notorious “dos a cero” taunt. For Márquez, the U.S.-Mexico rivalry was always personalized, which manufactured the defeat sting more.

“It’s an intriguing issue that comes up in the documentary, that a whole lot of folks really do not know about, this experience or this irritation that I expert thanks to a relatives issue that I really don’t want to spoil right here,” he stated. “It’s improved that individuals see it in the documentary, but it’s a little something that additional a personal motive to the rivalry we’ve usually had against the U.S.”

Off the pitch, “El Capitán” delves into hard times in Márquez’s personalized existence, like sanctions imposed on him by the United States Treasury Office in 2017 for alleged money laundering on behalf of a cartel leader. He would finally be cleared of any wrongdoing by Mexico’s attorney basic and the U.S. Treasury.

The film thoroughly covers Márquez’s relationship with his father, Rafael Márquez Esqueda, whose possess expert soccer occupation propelled his son to follow in his footsteps. The senior Márquez died months after the 2002 World Cup.

“My father was a extremely important human being, a pillar of who I am. I imagine that the most essential detail that I learned from my father is willpower,” stated Márquez. “It’s anything that I also consider to move on to my small children and, I feel, a thing that I’ll never neglect from him is if I’m going to do something, whatsoever it is, that it be accomplished in the most effective way, to give it all my exertion in buy to give my most effective so that every little thing turns out perfectly.”

That mentality, he says, is how he methods his task as head coach of FC Barcelona Atlétic, the reserve staff of young players for the Catalonian club.

“The truth of the matter is that now that I’m a mentor and I’m accountable for a group of younger players, I do check out to encourage them in one way or a further. It isn’t quick getting kids who are rather well known,” he mentioned. It is an expertise Márquez is pretty common with — he was 20 when he left Mexico for Monaco.

Though Márquez’s coaching profession has just started — in 2020, he took around the Spanish club Real Sociedad Deportiva Alcalá’s youth team just before having his recent position in 2022 — Barcelona greats Carles Puyol and Samuel Eto’o, who are featured in the documentary, feel their previous teammate has what it normally takes to be in cost of the Mexico nationwide workforce. It is a desire placement, Márquez stated, but a single that he’ll only land with a good deal of work.

“For that task, I have to continue to keep operating, I have to be nicely organized, I have to attempt to make my own ensures to attempt to gain that work. And that’s my thought: to proceed planning myself, attaining experience to reach that, God willing, and do a fantastic job at it,” he mentioned.

“I feel that my mentality, my values, need to be the same as when I was a experienced athlete, with the intention of generating heritage, no issue wherever I’m at, to try to be the most effective, where ever I may possibly be and with the values that my father gave me: that if I commit to a thing, that I do it very well.”

Iván Fernández is a freelance journalist centered in Los Angeles.