With only 19 years and four seasons in the elite, Unai Aguirre (Barcelona, ??2002) has become one of the best goalkeepers in the world with his saves. Does anyone still doubt it? It is enough to observe his stellar performance in the World Cup in Budapest with Spain, which he has guided to today’s final against Italy (8:00 p.m.), with his saves, shouts, gestures of rage and a genius and leadership that seems inspired by the mythical Jesus Rollán. It will be the third time for Spain to fish for world gold that has eluded it for the last 21 years. The glory of Fukuoka 2001 already deserves a relay.
Settebello crosses the path again, an uncomfortable team like few others for Spain, a historical black beast that already deprived the Olympic gold in the Picornell in that dramatic final of 92, or in the most recent final of the 2019 World Cup in Gwangju (10-5 ), the last lost final of the three that the team has played in the David Martín era. After losing the European gold twice and the World Cup once, in Budapest it’s time for a prize.
There are plenty of reasons: because the group is compact enough -almost the same as Tokyo-, mature and competitive, because they already beat Italy in the group stage in a great match (14-12 with a brutal Aguirre), and because the goalkeeper Barcelona is a guarantee that underpins an improved defense, pressing, sticky, anticipatory, made in Martin.
Aguirre’s numbers are eloquent: 46 stops in 66 shots, 70% effective, in four games, in which he was designated the best player. In all four.
“The key is that I try to enjoy playing, but if the defense hadn’t been the way it has been, I wouldn’t have stopped so much,” says Aguirre, who has supplied a stalwart like Dani López Pinedo with skill and the strength of a veteran, both in the selection as in his club, Atlètic Barceloneta.
“I had already psyched myself up all season that it was going to be my moment, and it is, I feel good and confident, which is the best thing a goalkeeper can have,” explains Unai in Budapest, who started as a child in goal , but the football match at Can Vidalet in L’Hospitalet. He is better off in the water, first at the Medi, then at CN Barcelona for eight seasons, as a child to the first team – with which he made his debut at the age of 16 in the League – and from there, last year, to Barceloneta. In four seasons, entrenched in the elite, he has played a few Games and is on the verge of a gold. “Getting to a stage like this and being able to play in a world final is a dream that every kid who plays water polo has.”
In the women’s tournament, the United States imposed logic and won its fourth consecutive World Cup -the seventh of its record- by ??defeating Hungary in the final, with suffering, by 9-7. The bronze went to the Netherlands, who beat Italy 7-5.
For its part, Spain finished 5th in the world by beating Australia 8-5, after two consecutive silver editions.
