The alarms went off within UD Las Palmas when, during the match on the island Against Sabadell (0-1), Eric Curbelo, one of Pepe Mel's undisputed, had to leave the same motu proprio. In the middle of the first half, he sat suspiciously on the ground, an unequivocal message of request for a change, but his determination allowed him to continue playing. Nevertheless, at the edge of the break he repeated the gesture and was replaced by Ismael Athuman.
Later it was learned that, as Mel himself recognized, the central Santa Brígida, a beautiful municipality of the Medianías on the island of Gran Canaria, He had suffered mysterious dizziness while exercising with his teammates at the club's Sports City. Curbelo was quickly admitted and later discharged without, for the moment, official communication from the club.
Despite being hospitalized for several days in the past week, Mel rushed until the last minute to take him on a trip to Almería, where Las Palmas added their third loss in a row, 3-1 in this case. “The important thing is that you are back and there is nothing to worry about. We are going to wait until tomorrow to see if he is coming to Almería. In principle, it will depend on him, on his own confidence. We are going to leave it in his hands, because it would be absurd to take him to have him sitting on the bench “, He said his coach on Friday.
Finally he stayed at home, and his place in the axis of the rear, along with Álex Suárez, was occupied this time by Tomás Cardona. However, the poor performance of Las Palmas, especially in defense, make it indisputable, if there is no medical contraindication, the return of Curbelo to the starting team, this Saturday against Cartagena at the Gran Canaria Stadium (7.30pm island time).
Either as a meritorious right back when Álvaro Lemos was not available, or as a center back, his natural position, Curbelo was always one of the main strongholds of Pepe Mel, especially this year after the loss of Aythami Artiles, recently operated on the Achilles tendon after having played his last game on November 25 against Mirandés (0-2).
For now This season he has accumulated 20 games played (13 of them as a starter) and 1,356 minutes on the pitch (sixth of the team after Álex Suárez, Sergio Ruiz, Álvaro Lemos, Rober and Dani Castellano). Barring a miracle, the account will continue to rise this Saturday. Waiting for him, as for so many years, his friend Álex Suárez, a fatigue partner also in the yellow quarry.