Yuri Berchiche: “I haven’t enjoyed playing football for a long time”

Yuri Berchiche has returned. The Zarautz winger played as a starter in the first two league games and then sat out the next seven due to heel pain before reappearing in the second half at Getafe. Now he started playing again in the last two against Barça and Villarreal. However, he still lacks the rhythm of the game and above all to get the best sensations. Today he made a fairly clear statement on this matter in a media appearance in Lezama. “I haven’t enjoyed playing football in a long time,” he stated emphatically.

The defender has had a bad time in the last two seasons suffering from Covid, the consequences of the disease, the injury and subsequent pubic surgery and then some discomfort in the heel, the same setback suffered he in this course. “I hope I have confidence in myself. The team is now showing that it is on a good line. I want to enjoy again and find my best sensations. I have confidence in the coach and my teammates. We are in a very exciting season if things continue like this”, he stated.

The player was also very graphic in saying how he felt about all these physical setbacks: “Fucked.” “I did not expect this season. Last season was a total of nine months. The fatal pass. It’s like it’s back to the way it was before… You’re really bad, with family support, it’s easier. Now I hope I can enjoy it and have no more injuries”, he acknowledged.

“There were moments that made me value more than before. It was very difficult for me to go to Lezama and play in San Mamés. It was not easy. Fortunately I was able to come back, I did not enjoy playing football as I used to be. These are the moments that happen in life, that have to happen. Now I hope I don’t hurt myself again, try to stay as long as possible and come back to enjoy football, which is what I love the most”, he repeated.

The winger has had the misfortune of suffering heel pain in both feet, last season on the left and this season on the right. “Last year was a setback and I didn’t expect to have this same injury again. A bit strange. The doctors told me they had never seen anything like it. Every time he runs, he feels intense pain in his feet. It comes from one day to the next, just like last year. Now I am a month and a half. I have the experience of what I lived before and I had the opportunity to do the things that we should have done in the past. I have recovered,” he explained.

Now he is cured. “The discomfort of the heel is disappearing. It is true that for the first five or ten minutes, until I feel a little better and the area warms up, it bothers me, but it is a tolerable pain and where I can live. I have no problem. And about the lack of rhythm, I lack game minutes, training is not the same as playing. No matter how much you train, you gain physical fitness most of all while playing, in competition. That’s where kami, I’ve played three games since I came back and I hope to continue more”, he stated.