The collector Raúl García

Raúl García. The number collector. On the verge of turning 34, he will do so on the 11th of July, the Athletic player is revolutionizing his statistics. Quoting up. Mestalla's double has made him grow even more in several sections, some curious, others more forceful. It is not surprising that LaLiga launched through social networks that in Valencia there was “a lion unleashed”. And he did it writing it in capital letters.

The ‘22’ rojiblanco pointed out the key to his spectacular performance as soon as the meeting with the ches ended: “Years go by and I want to continue doing what I did in previous years. I have a winning mentality, an overcoming mentality. Every year I want to do better and that is what gives me that hunger that I have to keep improving. ”

'Roller' He has raised his best record in First to thirteen goals. Four of them in six games after the return to competition, of the nine that have added those of Garitano. The previous eleven, he had achieved with Osasuna in the 2011-12 season and, on that occasion, none was penalized. Now, the lion's pichichi, has added seven notches from the fateful point. With Athletic, he had reached ten goals in two courses, 2016-17 and 2017-18.

The ‘22’ rojiblanco, who is on the brink of suspension with four yellow cards, signed in Mestalla his fourth league double with the Bilbao jersey and the sixth counting all competitions. He has also achieved them in the league tournament against Celta on two occasions (2016-17 and 2018-19) and Leganés (2017-18). One in the Cup with Racing (2016-17) and one in the Europa League against Dinamo Bucharest (2017-18).

Valencia, favorite victim

The Navarrese has already scored 19 goals in Primera with shots from outside the area, eight with the right and eleven with the left. He is the right-handed footballer who has made the most goals with the left-foot in the long-distance 21st century league. They follow the trail Cazorla, with ten, and Casquero, with six.

Raúl García He has accumulated five of the eight goals with the left scored from outside the area by Athletic since he arrived. This season adds three. With that second goal that was the double, in addition, he reaffirmed Valencia as one of his favorite victims, along with Celta. Eight impacts already, half of them in Mestalla.

He has already signed 94 goals in First, 73 since the previous demarcation of midfielder and 21 since acting at the tip, with Gaizka Garitano as a technician. With Athletic he has 61 total hits, 49 in the League, 5 in the Cup and 7 in the Europa League. At Atlético de Madrid he finished with 25 league notches and at Osasuna with 20.

As a double anecdote, it should be noted that the first goal of ‘22’ rojiblanco at Valencia on Wednesday is the first in the history of the League marked in July. He also became the first player in league history to score at least one goal in each of the twelve months of the year.

This expansion in the particular album of his career occurred in his 481 game in the First Division, with which he also joined the select club of the ten field players who have played the most games in the history of the League. Tied with Loren on that tenth step of the table. It should be noted that, apart from their own data, the assistance of @pedritonumeros, Adurizpedia and MrChip have also been used for the preparation of this news.

No wonder that Aduriz, Athletic's killer in recent seasons, applauded Raúl from the stands of Mestalla when Garitano decided to replace him with Sancet, the young red 2.0 white weapon, in the 82nd minute of play. No audience, but the spotlights were pointed at him. Of course he said it later: “I'm not praised, I run away from all that.” It is more than collecting.

On July 20, 2019, coinciding with the first preseason game with Arenas, the renewal of Raúl García for one more year. It ended in 2020 and now in 2021. Its termination clause was fixed until that day at 40 million euros. However, the Navarrese decided to give it up. He was the fourth player in the squad to take that path. Before they did Muniain, De Marcos and Balenziaga. “This demonstrates the commitment that exists both for the club and for myself,” argued “happy” the former player, who then launched that “I am better worth the word than a signature.”