This 2021 will be unforgettable for Mikel Oyarzabal. Not only because of the title he achieved in La Cartuja with Real Sociedad, the first of his sports career at an absolute professional level. But because The Eibar has entered the select group of the European football aristocracy in his own right. Due to the number of games and competitions he has played, and the importance he has acquired in each of the tournaments he has played, either with Real Sociedad, or with the senior Spanish team, or with the Olympic team. We can say that Mikel Oyarzabal has played practically everything in which a footballer could participate throughout this year. And, in addition, in all of them he has made history, because in all those competitions has been able to score at least one goal. And there have been few. He has participated in ten different ones!
The franchise player of the Real society has scored in the ten competitions in which he has played, a devastating data that speaks of the spectacular level that it has shown throughout all this 2021 that is already coming to an end. Because it has been able to maintain it, with the logical ups and downs, from January of this year to December. Simply awesome. With Real Sociedad, Oyarzabal has scored goals in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 league, in the 2021 Super Cup, in the 19-20, 20-21 and 21-22 Cup, and in the 2020-21 Europa League. And with the Spanish team he has been able to score goals in the Eurocup of this summer, in the Tokyo Olympics and in the UEFA Nations League. And he is nowhere near 11 goals in 11 competitions, having scored the penalty that he missed at Old Trafford against Manchester United in the Europa League last season. Without trust we would be really fantastic, something very difficult to match.
But it is that everything does not end here, the spectacular 2021 of Oyarzabal goes even further, much further. Because the Real player has become the first player in history to have been able to score goals in three editions of the Copa del Rey in the same year. The Eibar scored first in the Cup of the 20-21 season when he saw the goal in the Round of 16 match against Betis in January this year. Later, he was able to score in the 19-20 Cup, in the grand final played in Sevilla on April 3 against Athletic Club. His was the penalty goal that was decisive for Real to become champions again 34 years later. And he closes the year marking in the edition of the Copa del Rey of this season 21-22, when closing the win in the Ruta de la Plata against the Zamora.
Three goals in three different Cups in the same year. No one had been able to do it before. Obviously, this is caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the 19-20 Cup final between Real and Athletic to postpone more than a year. The circumstances have favored this new record difficult to repeat. But obviously afterwards you have to be able to mark, which is what you have done Oyarzabal, which closes a year in which he has played more than ever in his sports career and has scored more goals. His exponential growth has been outstanding, and it is difficult to understand why he was left out of the finalists for the Ballon d’Or, and other individual awards.. The Eibar is already a fixture of the national team, in which he also has great importance; while in the Real he is already the most important player. And he is among the most valued players on the continent. This 2021 has been the year of his definitive confirmation, and it will undoubtedly be a turning point in his career. Nothing will be the same for Mikel Oyarzabal, who now wants to close 2021 by scoring again in the League, where he has not since his last injury.