Jofre, a dream debut to wake up from his nightmares

Went into action nine minutes from the end of Valencia-Espanyol. One later, there was provoked a penalty. Five more were enough to be awarded a goal assist. Jofre Carreras (06-17-2001) was erected in absolute protagonist of the victory perica in Mestalla, the first at home of the season. Although, for first time, yours in the top flight. Almost impossible to improve it. A meteoric debut that contrasts with the patience, self-sacrifice and mental strength he had to deal with to make that moment come true.

Bet of the sports area –that on February 28, 2020, even with the previous leadership of grassroots football, it renewed until 2024– Y Vicente Moreno’s weakness Since the coach’s landing at the club, 17 months ago, he had everything to exploit. Especially when he immediately joined the dynamics of the first team and began to enjoy some minutes in Second Division (three matches) and in the Copa del Rey (other two). Up in 14 calls It appeared in the silver category, the last one on March 3, 2021 in an Oviedo-Espanyol, just six days before, due to a medical prescription, its projection was stopped in its tracks.

Jofre dragged a chronic injury to one of your knees, which made it advisable, if not necessary, a surgical intervention so that he could continue playing football at the elite level. A proof of stamina, both physical and mental, for a youth squad that had arrived at Espanyol at the age of 13 from Girona, that I had to living so young in the club residence and that he had already suffered an interminable ailment long ago: a cruciate ligament tear, so complex and painful that required psychological support to overcome it.

Secret but constant, Jofre had been in first team dynamics since the preseason, touching the ball for a little over a couple of months. And breathing new football from the past December 5, with his first minutes after the injury, at a Espanyol B-Penya Deportiva. His case is curious, because he has tiptoed through the subsidiary, with that acceleration of processes that they seek from the quarry for their so-called ‘elite group’.

Such has been his history of overcoming sports that, when asked about his debut in the First Division, Vicente Moreno he stopped and replied: “I don’t like to talk about individual cases, but with Jofre I’m going to make an exception.” “He deserved this opportunity, because He has worked a lot and for the level he has“, explained the coach.

“2021 has been a year of much effort and improvement, but it has been worth it for living a sleepy afternoon like today, “the player himself summed up on Twitter a while after his debut. With the most likely loan of Álvaro Vadillo to Málaga, surely he will have more opportunities this youth squad to show his two main capacities, on the pitch and in life: imbalance and a high and sustained sacrifice.