Pedro Porro: If you want something in life, you have to fight for it

To ensure he correctly explains his ­grandfather’s three principles on how to live life, Pedro Porro types the Spanish phrases into Google translate on his phone.

• No1: Vista larga. Look at the big picture.

• No2: Paso corto. Take small steps.

• No3: Mala Leche. Use your anger and fury to get there.

It has been a fight for Porro to get out of his small hometown of Don Benito, where his grandfather Antonio brought him up as his mother and father worked long hours “to put something on the table for me”.

Porro’s readiness for battle is what Tottenham have seen in the past 18 months. The 25-year-old is prepared for a scrap to get back into the Champions League places, and was offered a gentle reminder of the north London derby’s importance when he bumped into fans at the supermarket.

Before Sunday’s match he will take a call from his grandfather, his football mentor and the person who taught him to fight. When Tim Sherwood criticised Porro’s debut in English football, the former Spurs manager was told he “won’t be the first to have had to shut his mouth”. During that interview, he memorably said: “Let me loose in a prison and I’ll end up owning the place.”

“That phrase was something my grandfather taught me, and that’s why I say it,” said Porro, sitting down at Spurs’s training ground. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing, this spirit. It’s a winning spirit as well. It can be positive within the game. It’s been part of me since I started.

“It’s something I have always said: since I was small, I have had to fight for everything. You had to be tough in my house. Often there wasn’t any food. I know others have that situation too, but that is how it was. That is why I have had to be tough. If you want something in life, you have to fight for it.”

Don Bonito is in the province of Extremadura. With its population of less than 40,000, it is hardly a hotbed of football. Porro’s father, Luis, was a builder and his mother, Eva, worked in a supermarket. It was his grandfather who raised Pedro and his brother, Victor.

“I remember how hard it was, leaving the house for the first time. I was just a small kid, so it was harder for me,” said Porro. “In reality, my grandad was my father in football. He was the one that took me to all the different places to play. He still calls me. I call him my right hand. He has said that he can die easy and peacefully knowing that he has seen his boy reach the top of the game.”

Porro’s journey took him to Girona on the opposite side of Spain. He stayed within the City Football Group and was on the books of Manchester City while never playing for them, with successful loans to Valladolid and Sporting Lisbon.

When Sporting signed him, he needed to make a quick dash from his holiday and turned up to his unveiling in ripped denim. The fans loved it, with a series of memes circulated with him in his shorts and having attackers “in his pocket”.

“When I left Sporting, these shorts sort of passed into history there,” he said. “When they started talking about a move to the club, I knew Sporting was a huge club. But it was a club in transition and maybe I did not know exactly the enormity of what was happening.

“The transfer was going through, I was just on the beach and I didn’t have anything else to wear, I was just wearing those shorts. With everything that has happened with it, I think it shows my character as well, my charisma. I’m happy to laugh at myself. Now it’s an anecdote that keeps on running, but it has served me well.”

Porro was part of the Sporting team that won the club’s first Portuguese title in 19 years, with a dramatic derby win against Benfica one of the key moments of the campaign. He is relishing another clash against Arsenal, when he will be looking for a first win in the north London derby.

When last season’s fixture is mentioned, he says in English: “Set-pieces.” Going in 3-0 down at half-time, with two goals from corners, still hurts. “We know the importance of this match,” he said. “We are different this year. Sometimes things happen in football that you don’t expect and that was one of those occasions. But in the second half we could have turned that match around if things had run our way.

“We are a different team now. I think you can see that in the first three matches of the season, even if the results don’t always go the way they should in football. You can see that we are a stronger team this year and we hope that the result will be different on Sunday.

“It’s our second year working together. It’s a matter of becoming more familiar with each other and knowing each other better. Confidence and trust comes from that.”

If down to Porro, the match will be decided by who wins the fight. “That toughness is something that is going to hold me in good stead for the match,” he said. “You have to be 100 per cent prepared every time you pull on the shirt of this team. It’s going to be a tight match on Sunday, a beautiful match. I just hope it goes well for us.”