Claudio
Bravo (Viluco, Chile, 1983) never hid his intention to have a long career. Playing until the age of 40 was not a question that the international goalkeeper for Chile found unattainable. It is only three years away from achieving it. After four seasons of more to less in the Manchester
City, the South American has started a new stage in his career at Betis, with whom he will face for the second time in his extensive career against Real, the team that brought him to Europe in the summer of 2006. 14 years have passed since then .
The one of Claudio
Bravo it was the best of all the signings he made José
Mari
Bakero In the scarce 13 months that he was in charge of the club's sports management. Not only because he paid just over a million euros to Colo Colo by a goalkeeper that the Real would end up transferring to Barcelona by 13 million euros, but because he found in the figure of the Chilean goalkeeper a reference, a leader, apart from a fantastic goalkeeper.
Bravo is the third foreigner who has played the most games with the Real shirt (237), second only to Kovacevic (286) Y Carlos Vela (250). There would have been a few more if his second season, the first of the Real in Second, had not been blank. The Chilean played 30 games in his landing campaign in Anoeta, but the team descended. He could have chosen to find another destination but chose to stay, although the club opted for the quarry and Risk took over the goal. As of 2008, the ownership of Bravo It was already indisputable and was part of the group that led the club from Second Division to
Champions. He even scored a goal, Nastic in Anoeta in 2010. One of the biggest climaxes in the stadium's history.
Having signed such a brilliant career and being one of the best goalkeepers in the recent history of the Real, the blur he drew Bravo when he said goodbye he was unforgivable for those who idolized him. The goalkeeper had signed in his contract that he was entitled to a 10% of a hypothetical
transfer but in the sale agreement that was signed with Barcelona, it was expressly left in writing that the goalkeeper waived that amount. He Chilean, but nevertheless, decided to take the Real to trial to claim him 1.3 million euros, a judicial battle that he would end up losing, further disfiguring his image before the fans that idolized him.
Bravo, who has recovered from knee discomfort, will play his third game with the Betis, who has arrived recruited by his compatriot Manuel
Pellegrini. He will not write the history that he drew in Anoeta. The 237 games he played as a Blue and White represent, by far, a majority of the 375 that he has played as a professional in the 14 he has been in Europe: 75 with Barcelona, 61 with Manchester City and two with Betis. The rupture of the Achilles tendon in August 2018 threatened to end his remarkable career but his winning character has returned him to the forefront to, now in Seville, try to fulfill his goal of playing until the age of 40.