‘All those little things – make sure you do them’: The striker’s journey from rehabilitation to goals with Athletic Bilbao
Whenhe debut appearance Gorka Guruzeta featured in English soil, an young representing the youth squad against Borussia Mönchengladbach Under-23s at Wycombe’s stadium in the 2015 season, he scored. During his subsequent match he took the field in England, against the English side two months later, he netted. The third time, against Pep Guardiola’s team not long later, sure enough, he did it once more. Upon his comeback to Manchester to play against the Red Devils at Leigh’s ground in that year, he found the back of the net. An excellent finish, also. “Truly,” he states, “it’s a top-class goal I’ve netted.” Thus the club did what was necessary: he was replaced.
“I became very upset,” the attacker says, before breaking into laughter. “I’m sure there’s footage. We traveled to face United and I was pretty good. They kept me out of the final 45 minutes: my contract wasn’t finalized deal, I kept finding the net, there were lots of rumours, you know how it is. I don’t know about Newcastle being interested, but I recall seeing about Manchester United, standard transfer gossip. I have no idea how true it was, but supposing an offer came, I would have wanted to stay at Athletic. It’s a privilege.”
La Real relieve strain with extraordinary derby triumph
At the training ground, the Basque Country, the morning session is about to start; post-session, the quick travel to Loiu and a further journey to Britain, this time to play Newcastle in the European elite competition on midweek. Just saying those two words lights him up. It’s turning out to be a challenging campaign for Athletic, partially owing to the pressures of being here. Losing in stoppage time in the weekend clash, they have won only one of their recent league fixtures and been defeated by Arsenal and the German side in European competition. But, take in the big picture, the memorable evenings and those that lie ahead, and there’s a kind of quiet appreciation about him.
In the the period since he had rejoined the team, the striker has been a semi-final participant, stopped at the gates a domestic final by Manchester United, and has boarded a decades-old barge along the Nervión river flanked by a huge crowd after winning the Copa del Rey, the team’s initial silverware in four decades. Now he is Athletic’s top scorer in the UCL, where they are countercultural and making their first appearance in a decade. “This was beyond my dreams,” he states.
He considered it difficult enough just to make the first team and he was right. The son of the one-time rival player Xabi Guruzeta and a season ticket holder at the team he now opposes, the forward is a product of Antiguoko, the local academy that developed the Arsenal manager, the former star and Andoni Iraola. His move to Athletic came at 17 but after his first-team bow in that summer, he went through a serious knee problem, the cut, a relegation and a return before he could finally secure an opportunity, coming back aged 26 to live the best days of the club’s history.
“Joining the setup thinking you won’t reach the first team but every phase you progress through you’re remaining and you can observe the approach. You arrive and then … you’re sent away.” He had limited game time in six games between his first game and early 2019. “Then I was sent to the filial [Bilbao Athletic, the Under-23s]. A few matches at that level and I tear my cruciate.
“A severe disappointment but I look back on it as something positive because it forced me to alter the perspective. Recovering from a long-term injury is difficult, but it’s beneficial. You develop habits new to you. It’s not that you don’t look after yourself, but I attended practice and then return home, as a youngster does. In the facility, facilities are comprehensive, so take full advantage. Work, precaution. Strength training. If your hips aren’t balanced, correct it. Assuming ankle mobility is good, make it a 12 or a 14. All the minor details: perform them.
“At the top level you’re going to face physical challenges who have been in battles 200,000 times. Extremely powerful. Reviewing old images: my physique was slight. Thus incidents occur. Present-day images and it’s totally different. Recovery revealed that. Practice concludes, but there’s more to do. Teammates are set, really ready; you have to be too.”
Minutes are crucial. He left in tears in 2020, in his early twenties, joining the second tier. With Sabadell in that season, he got three strikes in 40 games. With Amorebieta in the following period, the goals started to flow. “Players go through it: transfers, releases. Should you reverse it, work, believe, and should the time come they need someone for your role, they might come back for you. Preparation is key. When the opportunity came, it was a dream come true. To then win the Copa del Rey, compete continentally, and make the UCL … pfff.”
Understandably he remarks appreciate the experience. Particularly after the prior campaign which, sometimes, was focused on persistence. Previously the main threat with a high tally, last season he got seven in {15 games more|additional matches|
