Gurpegui: “Raising the Super Cup was a unique moment”

Gurpegui (Andosilla, 40 years old) proudly wears the label of the last lion that knows what it is to lift a title. It was in 2005, at the Camp Nou, a Super Cup like the one played tomorrow. Now he works as a specific coach, by boundaries, in the quarry. He looks forward to being taken over.

He is the last Athletic captain to lift a trophy. You will want to give up that witness!

I am very happy to have won that Super Cup. For me it is a unique and unrepeatable moment because I never raised any title again, but hey, hopefully on Sunday Iker (Muniain) will take the baton away from me and above all I hope it won't be for once. I hope that in April he will do it again, that it does not happen to him like me. Lifting a title was a luck that I will never forget.

How do you remember those two games from 2015? Not even with the 4-0 they saw it clear for the return at the Camp Nou.

You go from euphoria when you enter the locker room after winning four to zero to the reality and caution that if there was any team capable of lifting it, it was the one, which was going straight for all possible titles. Only that Super Cup was left on the way. We went to Barcelona knowing that the result was great, but without having them all with us. Shortly after starting the game, there is a ball from them to the crossbar and the evolution would have been different if it came in.

That format was different: round trip. Now we have to beat Madrid and Barça in three days.

Statistically I would like to know how many teams have won in three days first against Madrid and then against Barcelona, ​​but I am very optimistic.

Why?

From what we saw against Madrid. I think that Athletic is going to have its options, as Real had in their semi-final; in the second part of the extension he was able to sentence. It gives me the feeling that Athletic is going to play a great game. Let's see if we can enjoy an unforgettable night.

With the ten terrible months we have been in because of the pandemic, it would be a happy note for so many people who are having a hard time.

Without a doubt. I am happy for many people from Athletic who have had a difficult season. This is a source of pride for what the club is, an institution so special that it needs this kind of joy every so often and I hope it is not the last of this season.

The fact that Messi is or is not can decide the final?

When Messi is on the pitch, Barça is much more dangerous. In the last games I have seen him with that old hunger and desire. He put two in Bilbao and Granada … Barça is more dangerous with Messi than without him.

De Marcos wears 18 in his honor, and he is one of the leaders.

With 'Demar' I talk a lot. I know that he has had difficult moments because he has had injuries that have not allowed him to perform as he would like. He is one of the most honest people I have met in my career. His feeling for Athletic is beyond doubt.