MADRID, 15 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish midfielder Raúl García, 37 years old and currently in the ranks of Athletic Club, will put an end to his sporting career at the end of the current 2023-2024 season, as confirmed this Monday by the Biscayan club, which together with CA Osasuna and Atlético de Madrid form the teams in which he has played more than 600 league games.
“Raúl García, a true legend, has decided to leave football at the age of 37, a week after his greatest achievement at Athletic Club, the Cup, in which he did his last great service to the team to date by scoring with great determination. the first penalty of the shootout. This is what he communicated to his teammates this morning at the Lezama facilities, in the gym, the place where he has spent hours and hours every day to extend his career as much as possible,” said the player. Basque group.
The Navarrese midfielder, converted almost to a striker, is one of the historic LaLiga EA Sports players with 602 games played so far, figures only surpassed by goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta and winger Joaquín Sánchez, both with 622. His contract expired on June 30 and has decided not to extend his sporting career any further after a season where he had not had many opportunities with only 196 minutes in the League.
Zizur’s total has 356 games in nine seasons at Athletic (2015-2024), to which must be added the 329 of Atlético de Madrid (2007-2011 and 2012-2015) and the 126 of Osasuna (2004-2007 and 2011 -2012), club in which he formed. In total, he has 811 professional matches across all competitions, with a total of 148 goals scored and a total of nine titles.
With Atlético, where it was difficult for him to get a place, he won the 2014 League, the 2013 Copa del Rey, the 2010 and 2012 European Super Cups, the 2014 Spanish Super Cup and the 2010 and 2012 Europa Leagues, in addition of playing in the final of the Champions League in 2014, while with Athletic Club, in addition to the recent Copa del Rey, he also won a Spanish Super Cup in 2021. With the Spanish team he was only international twice in 2014 .
“THE TIME COMES TO CLOSE THIS BEAUTIFUL ADVENTURE”
“In the end, in life, stages go by, there are moments, and now comes the time to close this beautiful adventure and start another. It is not easy because I feel that I am one of the privileged ones who loves his job, who loves coming to train. , which obviously I have been doing a routine very similar to what I have been doing these years all my life, but I am also a person who is always very attentive to the moments,” said Raúl García in a video provided by Athletic Club.
The Navarrese warned that “it is more of a mental issue” and that is why he sees it as “the ideal moment.” “I would like my last year to have been nice, easy, I mean not suffering, not going through difficult moments that football also has, and in that sense it has been beautiful,” he remarked.
“The decision not to continue has not depended on winning the title because I already had it quite clear a few months ago, but as a culmination I think it is special and something different that fills me so I can feel more proud if possible. It also has its cons because you know that next year the team plays in Europe, which is something we have tried to fight a lot especially in recent years. Fortunately, I prefer that the team has been good this year and I can retire with a clear conscience,” he added.
The Navarrese does not hide that “sometimes it even scares you” to see what he has been “achieving.” “I am a person who has tried to take advantage of the path, the day to day and not think beyond the moment I was in, and I think that helped me little by little to make a beautiful story with many things to tell and , above all, to feel proud,” said García, who leaves “with a ‘little bit’ of heart being that part of ‘athleticzale’.”
“I am very grateful for the affection that I have always received, because I understand that they have seen my way of being, I understand that they have seen that I have many similarities with what we represent. And it has always been from respect. I have left everything I have had, I have always tried to think about my teammates and the club,” he said.
For its part, Athletic Club made it clear that it has been “a true honor that a footballer of his enormous caliber” has spent “almost a decade” defending its colors. “We are talking about a player who leaves with enormous professional and football recognition, and with a trophy case overflowing. An unforgettable ‘lion’,” he praised.