Athletic said goodbye to Peio Agirreoa, Lezama’s goalkeepers’ coordinator and coach for the past decade. From the president Jon Uriarte to Iribar, along with all the goalkeepers and employees of the rojiblanco club who work in the youth academy, went to the ‘factory’ of the rojiblanca on Wednesday afternoon to surprise him and give him an interesting agur.
The fruits of Athletic’s work with their goalkeepers are there: Unai Simón, Kepa, Remiro, Agirrezabala, Iru, even Aitor Fernández. Agirreoa is clear about the secret to producing so many great goalkeepers.
“Saltpeter. The one in Ondarroa is a bit different, they tell us we’re a bit crazy, but I always tell the goalkeepers there should be a little saltpeter, something special. Goalkeepers are different and we have to have different elements. In I think this is where the great goalkeepers of the past and present came from,” Agirreoa said in Athletic’s farewell video.
Regarding his career at Lezama, Ondarrutarra is clear that “it was ten years training goalkeepers, but the fruits did not come only from my work. There were many people and many technicians, because Lezama is a family and we are all one”.
One name, however, above the others: “The most important thing is to see the figure of Txopo. I have always been clear that our goalkeeper model has been Iribar because of his way of being, his positioning and way of stopping, because of his Athletic feeling. To me Txopo is Athletic”.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
