Virginia Torrecilla retires from soccer at 29 years old | Soccer | Sports

Midfielder Virginia Torrecilla disputes a ball against winger Megan Rapinoe. Tolga Bozoglu (efe)

After everything that has happened, a life without living that led to severe depression, Virginia Torrecilla (Cala Millor, Mallorca; 29 years old) recovered her smile with the ball between her feet because that is what she has always done since she had the use of reason, since when he was nine years old he joined a mixed team with his mother’s consent but secretly from his father because, he thought, he wouldn’t understand. Her time and quality showed that she was made to play, to compete with the best. Until cancer, a brain tumor, kept him away from her for two years, and she wanted to contradict him. And she almost succeeded. But she returned to the grass to receive the affection of the fans and even her former teammates, because the Barcelona players covered her while she couldn’t contain her laughter, her happiness. Although since she put on her boots again she has not found the best version of herself, substitute for her at Atlético and then at Villarreal. And she, who was a fighter, a soccer player from that generation that arrived before her time but was so necessary to shape the triumphant Spanish team of today and the soccer players of the future, who always demanded to be in the elite and who needed to compete to satisfy his voracious appetite, he has finally chosen to hang up his boots. She wants, of course, to train and study, to remain linked in some way to the ball, a friend who never turned his back on her. “Today I say goodbye to professional football after 14 years. I will continue to be linked to this sport that has given me so much. See you soon,” she wrote on social media.

Torrecilla began playing football at a time when society’s archaic prejudices were still latent. “I had to put up with absurd comments like ‘go wash dishes’. You don’t hear that anymore; But having those comments said to you when you are 12 or 13 years old is very painful… I had a bad time. Until I was 15 years old when I joined Collerense, my first all-girls team,” he acknowledged. And from there to stardom. Well, in 2011 she was signed by Barcelona. “We liked her character, her way of competing and the joy she conveyed while playing. She was convinced and came to Barcelona. She soon began to be compared to Busquets, even by the first team players. She was very complete, she could play in any position as long as she was inside: center back, midfielder, midfielder and forward,” explains her then Barça coach, Xavi Llorens. “In the six position so famous at Barça there was no one better at that time. Great movement, technique, very tall for her age…”, adds Vicky Losada, former teammate of Barça and the national team. After three Leagues and two Cups, however, she decided to leave the forum: to French Montpellier. He wanted to gauge her level, since she understood that in Spain there was no commitment to football, that there was still a long way to go to be able to match the big clubs and competitions. “Here, in France, a female footballer earns much more than twice as much as in Spain. I really like the league because it doesn’t have so many teams (there are 13 teams), which allows you to rest more, for example, with free days before playing in the Champions League,” she resolved with the French shirt on. Four years later she returned to Spain, to Atlético.

But along the way he also made his way with the Spanish team, as he earned 68 caps and played in two European Championships (2013 and 2017) and two World Cups (2015 and 2019). “She was very good. As a footballer, his results and play speak for themselves. She has reached the top and we were very lucky to have her with us,” resolves her former teammate at Atlético and La Roja, Lola Gallardo. But not everything was a bed of roses because she, like the rest of her teammates, once raised her voice to point out former coach Ignacio Quereda, forced to resign after being accused of abuse of power and constant disregard for the players. In 2019, also and with Jorge Vilda on the bench, she put on the bracelet. He was in his prime. But, suddenly, everything went wrong.

A neck and headache pain took him to the doctor and there he discovered that he had cancer, a brain tumor. At first he seemed benign. But after the first operation it turns out that no, that it was malignant, that I would have to go through 13 months of treatment, 30 rounds of radiotherapy, 15 cycles of chemotherapy, loss of hair and weight (up to 16 kg)… And of spirit. Especially because in June 2021, when he seemed to reach the light of the tunnel, a car accident left his mother paraplegic. And although it was not her fault because a truck hit from behind her, she had a hard time digesting the news, the bad fortune, since she was behind the wheel. “I would go through cancer 15 more times for my mom to walk again. I promise with all my heart. I don’t mind. If only she could get back on her feet…” she admitted. She thought about quitting football, depressed as she was, also affected by the death of her uncle from prostate cancer. She even told Atlético. But her parents refused and six months later, in January 2022, 683 days since her last game, Torrecilla returned to the field in the final of the Spanish Super Cup. And the Barça players supported him. “It is indisputable that she is an example of strength and humility,” says Losada. “I have always told her that she was not injured, that she was on the couch at her house risking her life. And then came what happened to her mother, another very hard blow. But she has survived and recovered that joy that is so hers because in a coffee with her you are guaranteed laughter,” adds Gallardo. “She is an exceptional person,” Llorens intervenes; “He went through some hardships that I don’t know if all of us would overcome… But that leaves a mark on you. As a sport, it has cost him a lot, he has not been a starter and he has not had the minutes that he needed or wanted.” Because at Atlético he won two other Cups and a Super Cup, but his participation came from the bench. That is why this summer she decided to go to Villarreal, convinced by coach Sara Monforte, even though she also had an offer from Sevilla.

It happened that he didn’t earn his place at Villarreal either and now he has decided to say enough is enough, hang up his boots. He leaves behind a successful career, as well as a generation that fought so that football also mattered in Spain. “It is a shame that the team’s triumph has been lost for so few years. But she can be proud of having helped the team and football grow. Especially because before many sacrifices were made and it was not valued or recognized,” Llorens slips. “She can feel proud of her career on and off the field,” adds Losada, who defines her as a friend of ten. “And now life gives her back the things that she has taken from her,” Gallardo concludes. That, surely, will also be with a ball nearby. But not between the boots anymore. “I want to thank you for the immense love you have given me for so long and I want to tell you that I will always carry you in my heart,” Torrecilla closed on social networks.

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2024-01-04 18:33:00
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