Keston Julien Ready For Europa League Playoffs

By now, most of you may know Sheriff FC’s left back Keston Julien after his UEFA Champions League debut against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu, last September, securing a historic 2-1 victory over the European giants. An impressive debut in the Champions league for the Moldovan champions, but they were only able to finish third in Group D (Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk) which meant that they fell short of UCL Round of 16 and was subsequently sent to the Europa League playoffs. They’ll play Portugal’s Braga in a home and away tie, with the winner advancing to the group stage of the Europa League.

Now as excited as we were to see a Trinbagonian represent at the highest level of club football, in the UCL, we’ve seen Julien’s minutes reduced and he explained to T&T Sport Diary why this occurred, and why we should expect to see more minutes in the Europa. “Initially, our (FC Sheriff) right back got injured so the left back, who is better than me, more experienced, moved over to the right side because he can use his right foot as well, then I took his place as left back.” he explained. After playing through the qualifiers, Sheriff won all their games and while Julien started in all, he was playing while experiencing some hamstring discomfort. Eventually, he got a hamstring pull (minor) which saw him out for a brief two weeks. Within that period, the injured right back had returned to the squad and the original left back returned to his position, subsequently pushing Julien out of the starting squad.

Now, Julien, whose biggest moment in his career was qualifying for the UEFA Champions League and then making his debut against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, feel ready and fit for the upcoming match against Braga, scheduled for February 17. “I feel ready, I feel fit, I’ve been training three weeks now. I mean Braga won’t be an easy game because they’re a good team from Portugal’s first division but everyone‘s focused right now.”

The left back confirmed that after his club’s recent success, other clubs have reached out to his agent but he insists that he remains committed to Sheriff Fc since the clubs pushes him a lot and he now has a starting spot after the departure of the club’s starting left back. “I think I can make a bigger move in the future, I’m still young and have further to go in my career so it’s just about being patient and waiting on the right moment.”

While money is a plus, Julien’s goal is to provide for his family and friends. “Money is not the goal, I just want to be able to take care of my family, friends and community.” The twenty-three year old spent the Christmas break at home and he admitted that’s this time was different from others as many persons recognized him and this was an even bigger motivation. “When I go out, a lot of persons recognized me and this motivated me a lot to make me want to work harder to keep putting Trinidad on the map.”

Some lighter fun facts are:

In Keston’s spare time, he enjoys watching Netflix (PowerBook II), sleeping or FaceTiming with his friends. The teammate he would choose to play a 1v1 against that he’s sure he win, is fellow national teammate, Triston Hodge. Three friends he‘d carry on any football journey with him are Jaden Joseph, Nickell Orr and Ronald Charles. Of all his friends, Nickel Orr is the best singer, the funniest is his teammate here Yasane Momo and the best dancer is also Momo.

We’re wishing the T&T International all the best in his Europa League Playoffs!