Mikel
Oyarzabal and Mikel
Merino They will be the first two Real players to cross the barrier of the 3,000 official minutes played this season, the equivalent of 33.3 complete matches played. The txuri urdin team, after losing against Celta, accumulates 38 matches between the League and the Cup (3,400 minutes), so that the Eibarrés and Navarre played 88.25% of the season.
The captain has practically contested them already, since after the 73 minutes he endured against Celta, the Professional Soccer League tells him 2,475 league minutes that, together with the 521 that he played in the Cup, give a total of 2,996. The one from Iruñea has barely trodden green 13 minutes less. His 2,514 league minutes – he is the Real player who plays the most in the regularity tournament – are completed with the 469 of the K.O. competition, in which the txuri urdin squad reached the final.
Needless to say, Oyarzabal and Merino are two irreplaceable pieces for Imanol which, on the one hand, denotes the blind trust that the coach has in his two young footballers but, on the other, it could imply some physical wear and tear, now that there is doubt as to the level at which the gasoline tank of the Blue and White Squad. Whether they are exhausted or not is something that only they know but, especially regarding Mikel
OyarzabalHis participation rate has been practically the same since he joined the first team.
And is that the eibarrés is preparing to play more than 3,000 official minutes for the fourth consecutive season. Between League, Cup or Europa League, in the last four seasons he has always played a minimum of 35 games and never less than 3,177 minutes, which he accumulated on 16/17. Last season, playing only League and Cup, he went up to 3,496 minutes that this season can still be exceeded since there are 630 minutes left to play.
MerinoFor his part, he narrowly exceeded 2,000 minutes last season (2,197) and is now on the verge of reaching 3,000, which will be his highest figure since he played 2,903 minutes in Second with Osasuna on 15/16.