When, in 1996, Numancia became the fashionable team in Spanish football by being able to reach the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey, Mateo Arellano (Avilés, 1-19-1998) was just a project in the head of His parents. He did not see the Barbarin, Raúl Ruiz and company play. Those who wrote one of the golden chapters of football in Soria by making it possible to see a Second B team challenge Cruyff’s powerful Barcelona. However, this avilesino has that spirit in mind. He says he already breathes in the city that Sporting will visit tomorrow in the second round. “In Soria, this competition is lived with a different illusion, it is a legend for everyone,” warns the rojiblanco youth squad, now a Numancia footballer.
Mateo Arellano is, in his own way, a Numantino soccer warrior. His story of overcoming defines him. Arriving at the Sporting academy at cadet age from Avilés, he was an under-18 and under-19 international along with footballers like Cucurella, today at Chelsea. His life smiled at him until in 2018 he began an ordeal that was about to make him hang up his boots. A disc protrusion prevented him from playing for more than a year. Not only that. The pain made it difficult for him to sit down, and even prevented him from doing such mundane tasks as driving. He didn’t give up. “I learned then to value a lot of things more,” he says. He ended his contract with the rojiblanco team, went to Langreo, where he showed that he had a lot of football left, and returned to the Sporting subsidiary to end up making his debut with the first team in the Copa del Rey, against Amorebieta. “I still have the thorn of not having managed to consolidate myself and also play in the League,” he confesses. At the end of that season, without a place in Gallego’s squad and ending the cycle in a deeply renovated subsidiary, Mateo went to Soria.
“Perhaps having chosen Numancia then could be seen from the outside as a step backwards because the team was in the Second RFEF, but the project was ambitious and attracted me,” he explains. He was not wrong. He was a key player in the promotion achieved by the Soria team to the First RFEF, a jump that materialized a few weeks after football put the avilesino to the test again. A pain in the right knee and the worst possible news: rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament. It was April. Ahead, months of recovery. The same ones that tomorrow will prevent him from facing the team of his life, Sporting.
“I’m already recovered. I’ve been working for three weeks at the same pace as the rest of my teammates, but since it’s a long-term injury, the club chose to wait until January to process my file. That’s why I won’t be able to be in the Cup and I won’t I will hide that I was dying to be able to be there even for just a few minutes,” says Mateo. Operated in Madrid by Dr. Gloria López, he was part of the rehabilitation in Asturias before crushing himself during the summer in Soria. The ghosts of the past – he came to confess on the day that his back injury had caused him to fight depression – were no longer a threat.
“In football, when things go well, everyone is with you. When they go wrong… That’s why you learn to value people who are always there, to enjoy things that you didn’t even notice before,” he sums up. . His particular formula, that of match by match. “I’m setting small goals. For example, with this last injury, well, start running, hitting the ball… Like this. Little by little. Now, already recovered, I value much more things like the day to day, the relationship With my teammates, training, traveling… I enjoy football in a different way. If you don’t enjoy the road, this is useless”, he underlined.
Student of Electronic Engineering in Gijón, a career that “I will finish when I return because it made it possible for me to finish the year and a half that I have left at a distance”, the books continue to be support. She is studying Sports Management at the European University of Madrid and is looking forward to stepping on the green again to continue climbing the steps with Numancia. “We are in the middle of the table and a bit like Sporting. We beat those at the top and play great games, but then the bottom come and we are not able to move forward,” he confessed. He will cheer on his team tomorrow at Los Pajaritos.
“Iñaki Bea (Numancia coach) likes intense football, competing from the first to the last minute. We’re going out for the win. All in all, I wish Sporting the best, always. Hopefully one day I can dress again roijblanco”, concludes Mateo. Coming from a gourd with the ability to overcome him, any goal is possible.
The previous one, with the rojiblanco medical team
He grew up in the quarry with teammates like Pedro Díaz or Nacho Méndez. Even in his last year in the subsidiary he gave the alternative to young people like Nacho Martín. Mateo Arellano has great memories of his years in Mareo, but he is especially grateful to a specific group of the rojiblanca family: Sporting’s medical services. “Because of the injury issue, we spend a lot of time together and I’ve already been talking to them to see us and have a drink before the game at Los Pajaritos,” says the former rojiblanco. Among those who helped him the most and will travel to Soria, doctor Gonzalo Revuelta and the physiotherapists Pelayo Merediz and Pablo del Fueyo. “I know that since the summer there have been many changes in the club. The arrival of the new property has been the most important. All of us sportinguistas want to see the team consolidate in the upper zone of the table as soon as possible. I hope it happens this season and let’s enjoy promotions in Gijón and Soria”, he assures.
