“There are people on social networks who are funny, but there are others who are very rude”

In 1992 he covered his first Euro Cup for RTVE alongside the legendary José Ángel de la Casa. More than three decades since that premiere, journalist Juan Carlos Rivero (Madrid, 62 years old) says that he maintains the same enthusiasm when it comes to narrating the Spanish soccer team. Tonight, at 9:00 p.m. on La 1, he voices the match that will pit Spain against Albania while he says that he is “isolating himself” from social networks. «To those people who are so cruel when they detect an error, I always say to make them look at it. Maybe the problem is within him,” he says.

Twenty years since the last Euro Cup on TVE. What has changed since then?

The most important difference since the 2004 Euro Cup is that we were used to doing big events: World Cup, Champions League… everything. Now we’ve had to get back to that with a tighter budget. We have to be more inventive, because the budget is fairer, but we maintain the immense enthusiasm to do it. I covered my first Euro Cup in 1992 and I live the one in Germany with the same enthusiasm. So only two people went to cover it: José Ángel de la Casa and me. He narrated the most important game, and I narrated the next one. Something similar happened with the World Cup in Qatar, we recovered the rights that we had not had for 24 years. It is an immense fortune, and I think it is a huge effort that this company (RTVE) makes.

Alicia Arévalo, a new generation, joins the team of narrators. What do you learn from the new colleagues who arrive?

In this job you cannot stagnate. No, you have to be in the time in which you live and think that the best is always yet to come. That’s why everyone who comes to me gives me a lot. I listen to them, I follow them, I see them, and of course I learn from all of them. In this profession, if at any time you consider that you have nothing more to learn, it is better that you retire.

Do comments on social networks take away your excitement because of some mistake you may have commented on in a story about a football match?

You have to live a little outside of that. In the Champions League final, in a four-hour and twenty-minute broadcast, I commented that Vinicius was with Lenny Kravitz, because I’m not a specialist either. And it turns out that he was Jay Z, Beyoncé’s husband…. Well, now people get that. And man… well you have to think that there are four hours where there are even bigger mistakes than the one that is still an anecdote. I would like to never make mistakes, but I am human and I make mistakes. And nothing happens. You don’t have to think about the pressure of what they say on social networks, but rather trust your work. It’s fundamental. Of course, there are also funny people who laugh at it; and other people with very bad slime. To those people who are so cruel when they detect an error, I always say to make them look at it. Maybe the problem lies within.

And when does it become a target of attack or ridicule?

I isolate myself as much as I can. My children sometimes send me things, and I laugh. But what can you do? Apologize, because I am human and I make mistakes. Sorry, I’m not infallible. That is one thing that I am clear about, that I try to be as infallible as I can, but I am not there. It is impossible. We’re talking for two hours at a soccer game. There are more interesting things in a narrative.

Do you have any rituals or habits before calling a game?

When I have to narrate a game, for example, I don’t even have a beer. Water and it’s over. You have to take care of your voice, sleep well, rest. Already in the stadium before the game, because we go to the field about three hours before, I try to talk little. Generally there is a very loud public address system, and if you raise your voice, there is a moment when you start to feel like you are losing your breath and are hoarse.

Have you ever lost your voice during a broadcast?

I remember one day for a Champions League match that was Barcelona-Ajax Amsterdam at the Camp Nou. I had to call Xavi Díaz, who is deputy director of Teledeporte, and I told him: ‘Please come and give me a hand.’ I ended up in a hospital in Barcelona to see if they would give me corticosteroids, because I had taken a thousand things and it wasn’t working. I could hardly even say ‘hello’. It’s horrible, because when you have to pay more attention to your voice than what you’re seeing, it’s terrible.