A year without Alberto

It's just been a year without Alberto. At the moment, 367 days have passed without the Rayo captain being under sticks. That September 27, 2019 still reverberates in his thoughts. Still drags him on his left knee. And now, on the occasion of the anniversary, the goalkeeper has shared an emotional post on Networks: “A year has passed since I started this solo journey … A year since I separated from the day-to-day life of a wardrobe … A year since helping the common good can only be carried out from closeness to the partner … One year since this long journey began. “

A difficult path, at times even tortuous, that he is traveling wrapped up in his own. For his family, his own and the one he has built in football, because there are many friends he keeps inside and outside his Rayo. Hence the messages of encouragement and affection from his colleagues yesterday (Saúl, Juan Villar, Javi Varas, Édgar Badía, Hugo Fraile, Elustondo, Roberto Santamaría, Quique de Lucas, Jorge Molina, Embarba, Alicia …) and today (Montiel, Isi, Mario Suárez, Fran García, Comesaña, Álvaro, Catena …). In addition to his hobby. Always Faithful.

Looking back, late September 2019, Alberto was starting at Rayo de Paco Jémez. The first seven days of the pull. Nothing made him presage that the match against Almería (1-1) would be the last for a long season. It was in the previous derby against Fuenlabrada when he had to leave training. It looked like a synovitis and it might come back soon. A month later (on November 6) he tried it and returned to work the week of Cádiz, but the discomfort, the swelling … continued anderr. Something that finally took him to the operating room. Not once but twice.

On November 20 he underwent a arthroscopy due to a cartilage injury and on January 14 he underwent surgery again to perform a implant of chondrocytes in cartilage. Soon the COVID-19 pandemic arrived and the confinement affected him in a very particular way in his recovery, leaving him without the usual treatment with the physios. It was time to do strengthening exercises at home and continue with the crutches. Her inseparable companions — first the two, then one — until June 12. That was a sweet goodbye.

But the best moment came on August 22. Alberto stepped on the lawn of the Sports City to meet again with his teammates, with the ball … He put the gloves back on, his other skin, to do alternative work. And this is how he continues to burn stages, little by little, in his recovery. Because the goalkeeper has not played for a year, but the captain has never left.