Raúl García announces that he will retire when the season ends | Soccer | Sports

With all the naturalness in the world, and aware that his teammates are the most important thing for him in his professional field, Raúl García (Zizur Mayor, 37 years old) took advantage of the gym session in Lezama after the day of the match against Villarreal to announce to the rest of the squad, before anyone else, that these will be his last weeks as a footballer. After nine seasons at Athletic, four at Osasuna and seven at Atlético de Madrid, the playmaker, who had renewed at the beginning of the season for one more year, decides to step aside after 602 games in the First Division, with 112 goals , 95 Cup matches with 21 goals and 115 European competition matches with 17 goals.

The current Athletic player, already with an expiration date, leaves as the third player with the most League games, behind Andoni Zubizarreta and Joaquín, and after having won a Copa del Rey, a League and a Super Cup with Atlético of Madrid, with which he also won the Europa League twice and as many Super Cups, and a Super Cup and a Copa del Rey, the latter just a week ago, with Athletic. The withdrawal, “did not depend on winning the title or not, but this is a beautiful culmination for my career,” he says in an interview with the club’s media.

The signing of Raúl García by Athletic with the 2015/16 season already started was not without controversy since the footballer, then of Atlético de Madrid, never shied away from any battle, and in San Mamés he had starred in several. The team was led, as now, by Ernesto Valverde, and during the match that the red and white team was playing in Ipurua against Eibar, a rumor began to spread that Raúl’s absence from the Atlético squad was due to his imminent signing for the club. Bilbao team. Added to this was that the president at the time, Josu Urrutia, was absent from the box. He was closing the deal that was confirmed that same night. Despite reluctance on the part of the fans, Raúl García began to win over the crowd on the day of his debut, in which he scored one of the goals against Getafe. For more than five years he formed a lethal couple with Aduriz.

In the last two seasons, the Navarrese footballer has been losing prominence due to the emergence of a new crop of footballers, almost all of them from the quarry, but he has continued to appear in key moments, such as in the Cup final, in which he was responsible for take and score the first penalty of the shootout against Mallorca, a goal that he celebrated with rage. He himself expressed it in his farewell: “I have given up everything I have had, always thinking about my teammates and the club.” He assures that, “physically I feel good, but it is a mental issue,” because, “the body asks you for changes and now is the ideal time.” And he confesses that, “I have not been athleticzale from birth because I came from Pamplona and I have experienced other things with Osasuna”, but, “I leave with a little bit of heart being from Athletic, because it is true that from within you see the club in a special way. The feeling is in the day to day and that is something that I take with me.” “I want people to feel proud that I have worn this shirt and defended the values ​​of Athletic from day one.”

The red and white club bids farewell to him with a statement in which it assures that “it is a true honor that a footballer of his enormous category has completed almost a decade with our colors. We are talking about a player who leaves with enormous professional and football recognition, and with the trophy case overflowing.” His previous teams have also echoed the player’s decision, and thus, Osasuna has indicated on their social networks that “today one of the great talents to come out of Tajonar has announced his retirement. Congratulations on your great career, Raúl!” start at the end of the season.”

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