Urki: «The numbers are good, but I focus on helping the team»

From the moment the templates began to be drawn up, Barakaldo was already aiming to be the great favorite of the Basque group. The financial muscle that has been endowed due to its conversion to a public limited company has allowed it to arm itself with players of great caliber. Among them, there is also a cast of very talented young footballers that part of the public does not know. Urki Txoperena could perfectly be in that group of underdogs with great potential.

He is a 23-year-old striker who can play in any of the attacking positions. Practically his entire football career has been developed in the team from his town: Beti Gazte. Since he was seven years old, he has always been in the Lesaka team, except for one and a half years in Antiguoko during juniors. A boy who thought more about “enjoying football with my friends” than about his aspirations as a footballer. «In the town almost all of us hang out together and the team was almost like a gang», he points out.

That made him a complete unknown. However, his name began to sound among the sporting directions of the Third Federation, when he was one of the main protagonists of the surprising rise of Beti Gazte to said category. At that time, offers rained down on him. “I thought about several things and in the end I thought it was best to stay,” he reveals. So, he had to confirm those good feelings that he transmitted, but on a higher rung and much more demanding than the one from which he came. And boy did he do it.

He scored eight goals with the Navarre team in the first round of last year. His brilliant performances did not leave anyone indifferent. Although he was aware of his reluctance to leave his town’s team, everything changed when Barakaldo appeared on the scene. «Barakaldo is a very big club, when we played in Lasesarre in December, we were all very surprised by the stadium. I told those around me that they loved me and everyone told me that it was a unique opportunity and I should take advantage of it », he says.

He didn’t let that train get away. He left his hometown team to go to a new place and a different club, with much more impact and demand. He went from white to black. That is why it is not surprising that the beginnings were certainly difficult for him. “At first it was a bit difficult for me to adapt because he had lived in the town all his life and had many uncertainties,” he says. However, his companions made everything go faster than expected. “Jon Tena helped me a lot and we also had a group that adapted very well to me,” he says.

In that second round, already a member of the manufacturing team, he interspersed starts and substitutions, being able to score another three goals. In this way, with eleven goals in total, he emerged as the eighth top scorer in the championship. Numbers that are not bad. However, it is at the beginning of this season when he is showing the best version of himself. He has started plugged in and, without a doubt, he is being one of the best players in the group in these two disputed days. Urki Txoperena himself acknowledges that “at first it was difficult for me to adapt to the game and gain confidence, but now I’m in a good moment and enjoying it a lot.”

Outstanding role in the start of the league

In these first two stakes, he has scored two goals and has given an assist. Also, it would not be unreasonable to say that he was the best player in both games. Instead, he focuses more on the collective aspect. “The numbers are good, but I focus on helping the team achieve its goals,” he highlights. An objective, that of promotion, that Barakaldo feels very capable of achieving. Even so, he warns that “having a very good squad doesn’t mean anything, there are also other very good teams. We will have to work and fight until the end of the season to achieve it.”