Raúl García: “I don’t like going through the sites being one more”
Raúl García (Pamplona, 33 years old) is an absolute leader wherever it goes, although it has always managed to avoid excessive focus. ‘Rulo’ marks the ambition of Athletic’s dressing room at the moment. It has reached the recognition he had at Atlético and he hopes to finish his work winning the cup when it arrives.It’s homely, but is a guy like you who loves day to day and spending hours in Lezama a torment being between four walls?Yes. It is a very difficult situation for everyone and I am finding it hard to be between four walls, training and even doing more than when you go to Lezama, because not competing makes you lower the physical level that we had. It is what we have had to live and we try to take it in the best possible way.I said a few days ago that talking about the Cup is selfish, but football is a small escape valve in these times.We talk about a health issue, the priority is that. Our work is not more important than that of any other. Right now there is no need to talk about dates.Do you see a final without people and without Aduriz?I don’t see a final without an audience. I have had to play twice without people and it’s like it’s not soccer. There are players that if everything is postponed they will not be there, but respect for society must be prioritized.What games did you play without an audience?In Turkey, a European match and in the Calderón, in one of the Champions.And what of Adu?I would not like. The Cup has always given us a special illusion and would be the icing on his career. I prefer it because it deserves it and it would be nice for everyone.They decided to lower their wages. A necessary measure.We do not have the obligation to make the reduction, because there is a contract, but we are aware of the situation in which we live. When you put footballers in the bag that they live in a bubble or that kind of comment, I don’t like it, because it’s not true. There will be people like in any other job that do not value things, but it is not just something specific to football. It was an understandable situation in which we all had to shoulder our shoulders and not only for the club, but also for the workers who are in it and the society itself. We need good examples to make people more positive.He usually remarks on the bubble. He doesn’t like public exposure. Nor do you see yourself in the field! In case it is not recognized?Nooo! He who knows me knows that I am very different in the field and outside. I am a very competitive person, I like to win and I don’t like that role of protesting, that label that I have. I am aware of how important day-to-day is, caring for any employee who is with me, the people I have to deal with. I do not live in a bubble, I am lucky and I have sweat it to be able to have a job like the one I have with a remuneration like there is, but I do not live abstracted from all the problems because my family, my friends and close people live it day a day. Were you surprised by questions about whether he was anti-Athletic when he arrived?What about being ‘anti’? It has no logic. A colleague said that in soccer things that are not normal are given normality. Many comments have no basis and are given as true. You have nowhere to catch it. I am a loyal person, regardless of whether they are seeing them or not, I think that is what best defines me.When he arrived, he said that his challenge was to earn the respect that he earned at Atlético. Test passed?Yes, because I feel very important in the locker room and the club. Since I started, it has always been something important that I have had there. I do not like to go through the sites being one more. For that you have to work it out, get out of a comfort situation, which is the most complicated, because many times you don’t want to risk and change because you are well … He came to a club where the requirement was going to be maximum and the confidence he had in what I do impelled me to want to get what I have.He was born to be a leader.I have never liked talking about leaders. I try to contribute what I have and, more so now with the experience I have gained, orient people a little, but that does not mean that you have to do what I think or repeat how I act. Since I started I have considered myself a very mature person, with very clear ideas, and that has made me go down a path in which I think they are bearing good fruit.It will be a reference then of the Sancet and Villalibre. What has been yours?I have paid a lot of attention to Patxi Puñal, I have always said it. It was what I was looking for. A hard-working, involved person who was always there to help the group, never with a bad word. That is what I have lived at home, a family with their work but who was not comfortable to give anything away. That is what I have noticed in my references. You like being around people with the profile of Gurpegui, and learning … Do you like to be stopped on the street? It is a toll that you must pay despite your shyness.Yes of course. Fame and being recognized on the street is the greatest poison in football. There are many examples of footballers with that image and the footballer is labeled, but most of us are oblivious to that. We like people to tell us things when we do things right and we accept that they criticize us when they go wrong, but when you have not lived the situation on this side in which everything you do is judged, that loss of intimacy is not much understood . It is what I like least about football. I like to be congratulated or criticized constructively.You know that some will speak well of you and others badly. What would you say to the latter?I like people who have an opinion contrary to what I think, I love talking to them. It works for me. I’ve never complained about that. We are an easy comment point and that does bother me more.Some put the cry in the sky when he arrived in Bilbao and now there is consensus on the success of the signing.I had no doubt about it. I know how I am, since childhood I have been taught that everything is achieved with effort and sacrifice, and from that base, everything is coming. You may like more or less how I play, but there is no doubt that I put what I have. In the teams I’ve been on, everyone talks about that facet. I do not consider myself more or less than anyone, simply what I have, I put it at the service of the club where I am.
Is he an ogre in the field and a saint outside? He knows the border between a supercompetitive player and a dirty one better than anyone.Yes. Neither the bad ones are so bad nor the good ones are so good. If I have been in my career for so many years and have never been expelled for protesting, I would have to think why. I have never hidden that I am a shock player, but I never intend to cross that line, it must be clear.Over the years he controls everything. He even seems to study referees and rivals, how to act and how far he can go with each one.Each referee and each player is in a way and we adapt. I am aware of what I can and cannot do. No referee will tell you that I have been disrespectful, they will tell you that I have been heavy. I know them. They also know how we are.He is a player profile like Costa. If they are in your team you love them and if they are in the opposite team, you hate them.That happens because you give performance and Diego is the same case. The one who does not know it seems that they cannot even see it and when you have the deal that I have with him, it is a piece of bread. Compete and want to win, that is independent.Do you like the role of false nine for being close to the goal?Because I am playing, I must have a respect for my colleagues who do not. Complaining about being there would be unfair in every way. It is not the position where I will feel most comfortable but I am at the command of a coach who demands certain things from me and when he puts me there, I will try to do it in the best way, regardless of whether I think it favors me more or less .The other day Azpilicueta said that he does not lose sight of Osasuna. What does that club have that everyone wants to return? They never close that door. Or do you want to end up in Bilbao?Football when you give an opinion it seems that you have to be against the other. In the three clubs I have been to I have felt super loved and I have tried to give back in the best possible way all the sporting and personal affection they have given me. Osasuna has given me everything. Regardless of whether I am in Athletic, I would not think of speaking badly because I have no reason or sense for looking good here. I am a grateful person and I want Osasuna to do well, whether he is or not. There is no need to talk about withdrawals. If you say that you withdraw here or there it seems that you speak badly on the other side.