Lopez: Leon can't wait for the Club World Cup

• COVID prevented Nico Lopez going to the FIFA Club World Cup in 2020

• The Uruguayan is now set to represent in the competition

• Lopez discusses Leon's hopes for Saudi Arabia 2023

Nico Lopez is in no rush. He knows what lies ahead but is taking things step by step. He will shortly be running out at the FIFA Club World Cup Saudi Arabia 2023™, a tournament that holds a special significance for him, though first of all comes the task of helping Leon reach the Liga MX play-offs. With the calmness of a striker who always seems to have a little more time than everyone else in the box, the 30-year-old Uruguayan sat down to talk about his future and that of his new Mexican employers, who will try to emulate Tigres’s achievement in finishing runners-up to Bayern Munich at Qatar 2020. As it happens, Lopez was with Tigres at the time but picked up COVID before the tournament and had to sit it out.

Nicolas Lopez: Yes, no doubt about it. It’s a second chance for me. I remember it was only a few days before we were due to travel and the whole Coronavirus thing had just started. I was one of the first in the league to have COVID. I felt bitter about it, but luckily I’ve got the opportunity to go now in December.

I was getting very few opportunities at Tigres and I had about six months left on my contract when Nico [Larcamon, Leon’s coach] contacted me on Instagram. I was in the USA playing in the Leagues Cup and he wrote to me after a game. I gave him my number and we spoke for a while. That’s how it came about. We spoke over the phone, and I sat down and talked it through with Tigres. I asked them to help me out and let me go. Obviously, it wasn’t easy because they had the team all set and they couldn’t bring anyone else in, but they understood and I’m very grateful to the Tigres directors and for the opportunity Leon gave me. You try to weigh everything up. They’re a big team in Mexico and they’ve got great support. The coach likes me, they’re playing in the Club World Cup, and they’re always competitive and play good football. I knew where I was coming. I’ve played against them a few times and they’ve got fantastic fans too. My chats with Nico helped me make the decision, and I’ve come into a young side that plays really good football and has a real hunger to win.

It was a big change, for sure. When you make a quick change like that, it can be hard to settle in to begin with, but I’m slowly getting used to what the coach is asking of me. I’m so grateful to Nicolas. I’m 30 now but he wants me to keep on improving. He and his coaching staff talk to me every day and they want me to keep getting better. I want to thank my team-mates too for helping me to bed in so quickly.

Nico’s got a side that plays very good football, one in which everyone runs and plays their part. We use the keeper a lot to bring the ball out. We do it really well, and we’ve got technically gifted players up front and in midfield, so we need to move the ball about. He wants everyone to run, press, keep their shape, and that’s what I’m struggling with a little because I was rusty and off the pace. That’s where they’re helping me. That comes with playing, though, and with training. The first couple of weeks were very tough for me because you’ve got a bit of altitude here as well. I had a real struggle, but now I’ve started to play, get some game time, and the goals are coming.

We’ve had a few injuries but those players are coming back now. The idea is to have everyone available for December. We can’t wait for it to come, but first of all we’ve got Mexican league games coming up, which are our objective right now.

We know what’s coming in December. Our first game’s on the 15th and we can’t wait for it. We’re taking it day by day, though, because we’ve got a game every three days and barely any recovery time. We want to go as far as we can and make sure we’re on it when we play our first match. We know that if we win on the 15th, we’ll be up against Manchester City. We’ve been talking about it obviously, but we’re focused on the here and now. We don’t have time to think. We’re playing every three days and getting together every two, so we don’t have time for that. We play two or three games a week sometimes.

We’re a small country, but every year we’ve got players coming out and playing in leagues all around the world. It makes me so happy to see how they represent the national team. It’s a bit like Argentina, though Uruguay’s obviously a small country. You’re training from the age of four, and you’re playing and learning from a young age.