Sergio García, the withdrawal of a European champion

From the streets of Bon Pastor of Barcelona, a bordering neighborhood, humble, surrounded by polygons, one of the best strikers in Spanish football of the last two decades was born. That boy, Sergio García de la Fuente (1983), has announced his retirement at the age of 38 after 546 matches in Spanish football and 152 goals. His last experience showed his love of football, when he played in the Third Division in La Montañesa with friends like Joan Verdú.

“Soccer has been with me all my life. In the neighborhood, the ball was my inseparable companion… Now it's time to say up to here! ”, He writes in his networks, between exclamations, the same ones that accompany a race that has a brooch, Euro 2008 with Luis Aragonés, the title that paved a historical path for the Selection.

Top scorer of the Barça quarry

Until he was ten years old, Sergio García played for Bon Pastor, the neighborhood club, next to home. Fast, skillful and mischievous forward, formed between the streets and soccer schools such as the Damm, who caught it to enjoy it for two years until 1995 when Barcelona took it. International Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21, he was the top scorer of the moment in the Barça youth categories and a promise that debuted with Fran Rijkaard on September 2, 2003, Ronaldinho's debut against Sevilla, in the meeting known as the Gazpacho.

With no opportunities (he only played four games) he went to Levante the next, where he proved to be a First Striker: 31 games and seven goals. His good season led him to detach himself from a Barcelona that did not trust him and ended up in the Saragossa, club in which he was three years, played 90 games, scored 14 goals and got used to playing on the right wing. He had the quality to occupy the four attack positions.

From 2008 to 2010 he lived through a bittersweet stage with Betis. He scored 21 goals in 62 games and one relegation. It was his third, after experiencing the same with Zaragoza and Levante. He arrived at Espanyol, with Mauricio Pochettino on the bench, with some weight and with that poster. It cost around six million to pay in the same years. It took him a while to settle down and the stands began to chant Falete's name for his ponytail. A term that he accepted with the waistline that Sergio García has always had.

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Falete triumphs in two stages of parakeet

Already without Raúl Tamudo, at the RCDE Stadium, in a time of transition for Espanyol, Sergio García became the idol. He played 145 games and scored 41 goals. He was captain and lived two stages. The first, until 2015, when, overshadowed by an alleged match-fixing that finally was in borage water, he left Al Rayyan of Qatar: 27 goals in 49 games. And, later, he returned to Espanyol to live the European classification.

There in Sergio García the feeling that he had the quality to live a better career, especially before joining Espanyol. But the forward has left his mark, he was a classic and warns that this is just a full stop. “The ball will keep rolling close to me for sure. See you soon”.