What happened to Amorebieta? The return of the prodigal son

With more than 1’90 meters of height, the length of your legs made one of his lifelong friends will baptize him as The crane. under that nickname, Fernando Gabriel Amorebieta Mardaras, who turns 37 today, Tuesday, enjoyed a extensive professional career as a seasoned central defender, with character, one of those who enjoyed joining the attack and who, from time to time, left a hard tackle in the memory…

Thus, it is not unusual at all the yellow cardsand also some other roja (one of the most remembered was received in 2010 for a foul on Iniesta), they will accompany him wherever he goes.

Born in Cantaura, Anzoátegui state of Venezuela, Because his parents, natives of Iurreta (Vizcaya), had moved there for work reasons, Amorebieta returned to Basque lands when he was barely two years old. Little Fernando took his first steps in the world of the ball in the ikastola of San Miguel de Iurreta before disembarking in the Athletic quarry.

At the same time, it was usual in the lower categories of the Spanish National Team and then came eight seasons in the Atletico first team, a brief spell in England, Sporting and his jump to Argentina (Independiente) and Paraguay (Cerro Porteño).

On the way, he had time to establish himself as Bolivarian hero by scoring with a historic goal for Venezuela And always, always, he had something in mind: to enjoy football again in the place where he grew up: Iurreta. good clue about what is Fernando Amorebieta, one of the great free verses that Lezama has given.

From cub to lion

The squares of Iurreta witnessed the first touches of the ball by Amorebieta, who at school began playing, of course, as a striker. But Fernando pointed out ways and with barely 11 years old landed in Lezama where he would go from a boy to a man, or what is the same in the ranks of Athletic Club: from cub to lion.

In the same way that Simba became king in the iconic Disney movie, Amorebieta was burning stages dressed in red and white, from Alevín to the first team, with which he debuted under Javier Clemente. His first match as a central defender for Athletic It wasn’t idyllic but quite bitter: own goal at 24′, substitution at 68′ and defeat against Deportivo. Even so, that January 7, 2006 he was unforgettable for La Grulla, who ended up playing another 18 games (counting Copa and Intertoto) that season.

And it is that despite that nervous start, the one from Cantaura ended up earning the position of central and fulfilling when it was his turn to play on the left side. His consecration, at the time, came from the hand of Joaquín Caparros, who directed him between 2007 and 2011.

Precisely in those years came his first goal with the Athletic shirt (against Racing, in 2008), the Cup final lost against Barça in 2009 or qualifying for the Europa League of the 2009-10 season.

The summer of that year, 2010, rejected an offer from Rubin Kazan of three million euros per season while his name sounded to some of the greats of England, but Amorebieta, who had several agents at the same time, did not come out. Yes he did later in 2013after a fight with the then president Josu Urrutia for his renewal that ended with the Basque centre-back at Fulham.

“Not continuing at Athletic is a complicated decision, The convenient thing was to follow a very different path, far from home, far from all my friends… Football has these things and it’s time to assimilate it,” he said in his farewell after eight seasons as a footballer for the rojiblanco first team.

From the Rojita to the Vinotino

But before Amorebieta established himself as a seasoned central defender with a good aerial game in Athletic, the Basque central defender had already demonstrated his qualities in the lower categories of the Spanish National Team, forming part of the generation that he won the 2004 U-19 European Championship together with Sergio Ramos, Raúl Albiol and David Silva.

Common also in the Sub-21, the call from the Absolute came from Vicente del Bosque shortly after taking office, in September 2008. However, the left-footed centre-back never made his debut and Venezuela, the national team of his country of birth, ended up knocking on his door. And Amorebieta opened it.

His debut took place on September 2, 2011 in a friendly that Vinotinto lost to Argentina 0-1. “For the first time I saw a player capable of stopping Messi. Congratulations to Amorebieta”affirmed after the clash the Argentine coach, Alejandro Sabella.

He himself saw Albiceleste from the bench a month later, in a qualifying match for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, as Amorebieta rose above the rival defense to score the historic goal with which Venezuela beat Argentina for the first time in its historypractically becoming a national hero of the country where he was born. “We beat Argentina! Bravo Venezuela!! Viva La Vinotinto!! Viva La Patria!!”Hugo Chávez tweeted that day in October 2011.

England and the flight from ‘hell’

After his non-renewal with Athletic, the central defender from Cantaura signed with Fulham for four seasons in the summer of 2013. Already in the Premier League he played a total of 23 games and left his name in history by being the first footballer of Venezuelan nationality who scored in the highest category of English football (April 26, 2014, against Hull City).

However, that campaign ended in decline and Amorebieta was no longer able to escape from the hell of the Second English. And that Fulham gave it to Middlesbrough in the middle of the 2014-15 season and the Spanish-Venezuelan caressed promotion… But that, effectively, remained a caress and after one more year in the Second Division, in which he was again loaned to Boro de Karanka and then returned to Fulham to help him save the category, the man from Cantaura returned to LaLiga to sign for Sporting. Again red and white.

And again to Second. La Grulla played 27 league games, saw 17 yellow cards and Sporting was not saved. It was time to pack up again and the destination, this time, was much further away…

The jump across the pond

Thus, in the summer of 2017, Fernando Amorebieta signed for Independent of Avellaneda, with whom he signed a two-year contract and with whom he was proclaimed South American Cup champion.

From the Argentine team he went on to a history of Paraguayan football, the Cerro Porteno. Wearing the Ciclón del Barrio Obrero shirt, he starred in an incident that showed that Amorebieta was still that seasoned central defender with a strong character: He was banned for four games for biting Néstor Camacho in the head. in a duel against Olympia.

However, he also had time to add another title to his record, the 2020 Opening Tournament, just before hanging up the boots and spend a few months working as a technical secretary.

The return of the prodigal son

And the time has come return. Back, with withered forehead… And so Fernando Amorebieta has returned to Iurreta because He always turns to first love. Because twenty —or thirty— years is nothing. And because he promised.

This is how José Miguel Cerezo, founder and first president of the Iurretako, who plays in the Biscayan Honor Division —one step below the 3rd RFEF— to the Movistar cameras: “He promised us that he was going to finish his sports career here”. And the prodigal son has returned to play, as he did as a child, of striker.

At Larrakozelai all eyes are on him. The aerial game was always one of the strong and historic goals he has already scored…