Which Athletic player do you associate with the number 13?

Julen Agirrezabala is number 13 at Athletic. The Errenteria goalkeeper, according to the rojiblanco club’s official website, is in his fourth season at Athletic. The Gipuzkoan debuted in the first team wearing number 26. A summer night in Martínez Valero. The thing about Elche and Athletic’s current goalkeepers, because of one of the shortest loans in the history of football, that of Unai Simón, is curious.

Once Jokin Ezkieta, now Racing’s goalkeeper, left the red and white club, Agirrezabala got a number that looked like he was going to last a long time. Since he renewed his contract with the red and white club, at least until 2027 and since the number 1, another number associated with the goal, Unai Simón, it looks like he will stay at Athletic for many years. The Zipi and Zape of the goal.

Let’s get down to business, what the great Joaquín Caparrós has to say before an interview: Which Athletic player do you associate with the number 13? Me, I’m with Julen.

The official website of Athletic de Agirrezabala said that “he was one of the architects of the 25th Athletic Club Cup, with excellent performances in all the qualifying rounds of the tournament and a very good performance in the final, where he placed the end of the penalty shootout against Mallorca.”

I think everything has been said, right? “Julen does not fail, lalalala” was another of the chants made famous by the red and white team in celebration of the Cup title and, although the truth is that he failed, he still has a long way to go, he is a good goalkeeper that is debated owned by Unai Simón. If I have one thing for sure about Athletic’s goals this season, it’s that Agirrezabala will be the goalkeeper of the Cup, once again. On Saturday we will remove the doubts on the appointment in Las Gaunas.

His predecessors

There is one fact that caught my attention about this number 13. Well, two. The first, that there are eight goalkeepers in the history of Athletic who have used this number in an official match: Aizkorreta, Imanol Etxeberria, Aranzubia, Armando, Raúl Fernández, Iago Herrerin, Ezkieta and Agirrezabala. Eternal historic replacement goalkeepers like Deusto, Marro or Meléndez never played with that number 13. Whenever they did, because the numbers were not fixed like they are today, they did it with number 1. curious

And the second is that there are field players in red and white history, such as Sarabia, Amorortu, Lasa or Gallego, who, in some games, used that number. Andoni Imaz was assigned this number for the 2001-2002 season, although he did not play. Eusebio, Muller and Nesta also used it in their sports careers.

The truth is that Athletic’s goal is beyond the scope of Unai Simón and Agirrezabala. Two serious, shy profiles, but get along well. The image of Unai talking to Julen before the penalty shootout is an example. Or what they talked about in ‘El Larguero’ on Gabarra day, too. Simón calling Agirrezabala Julito was one of the funniest things about that emotional day. Muniain called him that on the balcony of City Hall. “The Iceman,” he also said. Well, don’t let it melt, that would be a good sign. It won’t be something from another Thursday.