Xabier Etxeita has been off the playing field for almost half a season and suffers like no one else when he cannot put on his boots or wear shorts to help his teammates. Pubic problems, those that made him think a lot about his incorporation into Urritxe’s ranks a couple of seasons ago and that last year they seemed to respect him, have reappeared to leave the veteran center back in dry dock.
Undergoing medical tests a couple of weeks ago, it seems that the light at the end of the tunnel is a little closer for Etxeita. “Little by little I’m improving, yesterday I did a little work with the team,” confirms the player himself, for whom these weeks “have been tough because I can’t help out on the pitch because of those discomforts that prevent me from being in the game.” day to day and on the weekend.
Just because these are ailments already known to Etxeita does not make the recovery process any better. You could almost say the opposite. “When you don’t know when you’re going to come back, day-to-day life is hard,” confesses the Amorebieta center back. «I really want to improve, to feel physically well. I hope to be back in the fields sooner rather than later », he announces.
The team needs him. And not because his rear teammates have not covered his absence with guarantees. Manu Hernando, Gayá and Félix have taken a step forward and have performed at a very good level. But Amorebieta needs its experience and know-how, vital to knowing how to handle delicate moments such as the one trying to leave Urritxe’s team behind, which against Tenerife put an end to a long streak of nine days without knowing victory. Two months exactly. “It has been a very bad streak, longer than we expected,” says the fox.
From the stands, Etxeita experiences everything in a very different way, but he is clear that this is the course that the blue ship must maintain to stay afloat. «In the last game we gave a very good image, in Gijón too, on a very difficult field in which the team showed its face. “It is the line to follow,” he confides. “We already know that the Second Division is very tough and that there is a lot of level, but the team has the level to get out of there,” he says.
Rival especial
«We must continue playing and competing like this in all games. We cannot lower the intensity we are having one bit, which is giving us a lot. We have to be strong defensively and move forward », he says. “If we continue like this, the results will come.”
His injury will prevent Etxeita from being able to be with his teammates on Sunday at the Martínez Valero, a fiefdom that the former Athletic player knows more than enough about. “It is a special rival for me since I played three years in that club, it is a special and beautiful field in which we hope to achieve something positive,” wishes the Zornotzarra. From his stay in Elche, Etxeita only has “very nice memories of both the city and the team” such as “a promotion to the First Division” achieved with the people from Elche. “I have friends there that I still keep in touch with,” he says.
Even so, on Sunday there will be no time for ‘sentimentalism’, since Amorebieta needs to continue adding points to its battered locker. «We are going to go all out at Martínez Valero. They are going to make things very difficult for us, but if we maintain the intensity of the last two games we can get something positive,” he confides.
2023-11-22 17:33:40
#hope #return #sooner #confides #Etxeita
