Gorka Kijera, who ascended to Primera with Eibar, faces in Anoeta the challenge of reaching the Cup final: “It's hard for us to get the idea of all this”
Gorka Kijera, defense of the Mirands.
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Rui Silva frustrates Athletic and extends the semifinal
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Semifinal Crosses
In the hall of fame of the rebellion of the humble of Spanish football, the photo of Gorka Kijera It occupies a privileged place. The captain of Mirands, that this Thursday (9:00 p.m., Cuatro and Dazn) look for the most difficult still in Anoeta, it looks like an unexpected currculum. Before this semifinal, I took the Burgals team to the quarterfinals of the Cup four years ago. By then, he had already starred in one of the greatest feats of recent times: the rise of Eibar to First.
“There are players who leave football without living barely happy. I have had a few and always with humble clubs, which fills you even more. The morning, what we all take from football are the memories that we will tell our grandchildren And the mos are very good, “explains this soccer day laborer, 33 years of left back with a career forged between Second and Second B, always save a season in Cartagena less than 150 kilometers from his native Hernani.
“I am a slightly special Guipuzcoan, I am from Athletic,” he clarifies before remarking that the semifinals draw his wishes. He wanted Real Sociedad, of which he has been a member for several years despite his rojiblanca passion, and he dreamed of playing again in Anoeta, after having done it on one occasion as a youth: “For me it is more sentimental than playing in San Mams, because it is closer to my house and it is easier for more friends and family to come. It is the team of my land, I have gone to the stands of Anoeta and it will be one of the most beautiful games of my career“.
No Second team in the final since 1980
All this, Kijera explains it from the cloud she shares with the rest of her classmates. He says that the costumes are finding it difficult to assimilate what they are achieving, although “little by little” they will be more aware. In summary, They have come here eliminating Celta, Sevilla and Villarreal after suffering in long extensions in the initial rounds against Coruxo and UCAM Murcia. Now, they face the challenge of being the first Second to play a Cup final since Castilla did it in 1980, the fourth in total, because in the 30s Betis and Sabadell achieved it, in addition to Racing de Ferrol, who He does not compete in any national league. None won it, by the way.
“We all had a hard time getting to the idea that we are in a semifinal, it was something we cannot even imagine and that is why it costs us,” said Kijera, who also acknowledges that it is not easy to focus on his league games this last month: “It's hard, because nobody tells you about the League. After the draw, everyone told us about Real, even though we played in Gijn on Sunday. If it has happened even with the Basque derby! Real won it, Athletic lost it and nobody is thinking about it. It's amazing how this Cup is living, it's being a success. “
“Let's go get them”
The penalty for the Mirands is that the new format ends here and now they must face the semifinal against the Real double game. A factor that, he says, will not condition his game: “If we play very back, be for the sake of the Real, that forces us to do so, but not because we want. We intend to go for them, to press them up. Andoni has told us from the first day: if the opponent wants to play from behind, as Real does, try it, but we are going to press up, let's play against who we play. That is, if they do it as they did in the Bernabu, we will have a hard time. “
Andoni is Iraola, the almost new coach of this Mirands, also a guy with experience in these leaders, because as a player of Athletic disput four semifinals of Copa and one of Europa League. A baggage that, Kijera says, has helped the team a lot when it comes to dealing with these last qualifying rounds and that hopes that it will also be useful this Thursday at the Reale Arena. “The humble love surprises,” remarks who accumulates several top-notch in his zurrn and aspires to achieve one more, which leads the humble Mirands to the final in Seville.
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