The former player of Real Valladolid, FC Barcelona and Celta de Vigo and former coach of Barcelona B, Real Sociedad, Celta or Girona, Eusebio Sacristán, has assured that “it is the mentality that allows us to achieve objectives” and the one that is helping him to recover, after the accident suffered on December 30, 2020 and that radically changed his life.
Eusebio Sacristán suffered a fall, on the eve of New Year’s Eve, which caused a head injury for which he was in an induced coma for three weeks, at the Hospital Clínico de Valladolid and, later, he moved to Barcelona to a clinic specialized in brain damage to start your recovery process.
This Wednesday he has participated in “The APDV breakfasts”, organized by the Valladolid Sports Press Association, in which he has been supported by journalists and authorities such as the mayor of the city, Óscar Puente, representatives of different clubs, and for his family -his daughter Seema and her sister “Tere”, a fundamental pillar in the evolution of the former player.
If there is one word that can define the intervention of “Use” it has been “generosity”, because he has recounted, openly and with emotion on the surface, the process he has lived through since he suffered the accident to date and that still It has not finished, since he continues his treatment with optometrists, therapists and speech therapists.
“I did not feel prepared to talk to anyone after the accident, and it has been a hard process, since at the beginning I was not able to communicate and that has made me very sad and feel very bad, because I did not know how my life was going to be. life, if I was going to be able to have a normal conversation again, but 25 months have passed and things have been changing”, he explained.
As he has recognized, during this time, he has thought about “what was important” and everything involved recovering well, “having a normal conversation with others”, which he has been achieving with his friends and family “because staying with them helps to be more positive and optimistic”.
In this sense, he has insisted that, just as it happened to him as a child, when it was clear to him that he wanted to be a footballer and he prepared for it, “the important thing was to have that strong mentality, look for the goal and fight for it”.
Thus, he recalled that, to achieve his goal of being a professional player, he came from his town, La Seca, to live in Valladolid, at the age of 11 and, at 15, Ramón Martínez – deputy to the general director of Real Madrid and, for At that time, sports director of Real Valladolid- saw him play in Pedrajas and signed him for the blanquivioleta club.
“The first year I didn’t play any games, and I suffered and cried a lot, but I continued to keep my mentality firm, and at the age of 19 I went up to the first team, where the same thing happened to me again, but I once again made use of that desire to reach be a great professional and win titles and, when I was at Atlético de Madrid, Barcelona came after me, with Johan Cruyff as coach”, he related.
He then began his best stage as a player, achieving a multitude of titles with the Barça club, where he began his career as coach with Rijkaard, to achieve, as his second, another European title, and now he maintains that path, that fight for “being well again and having the ability to relate to others in a completely normal way”, he said.
In his opinion “when things happen in life, it’s for a reason” and, although it is true that, for a long time, he has wondered why he had that accident, he has understood that he had to learn from that moment, to recover things in his life and, gradually, is overcoming challenges and meeting goals.
Always humble, boasting of his origins, Eusebio Sacristán has garnered the affection of all those he has met in his path and, although he is not aware of the magnitude of that affection he provokes, he knows that many have been concerned about his condition, and that they have shown him their friendship.
Among them are Juan Carlos Rodríguez, “el galgo”, a former teammate at Real Valladolid and Barcelona, ??and Pedro Pablo Crespo, alma mater of the Eusebio Sacristán Foundation in which Juan Carlos actively collaborates, which was created with the aim of “helping that the children of Valladolid could play soccer”.
“Incredible work is being done,” added Eusebio Sacristán, who confessed that when he was training Girona, with whom he was relegated to the Second Division, “it was precisely the fear of going down that made it impossible to maintain the category, because that was transmitted the players, and they missed the last nine games”.
That is why he admires coaches like José Rojo “Pacheta”, with whom he has been able to speak, and to whom he has asked what he did to make his players happy, “because for a coach what is important is not only the way of playing, but that the 25 players feel good and united, because that’s what makes things go well”.
Although at the beginning of his recovery process he did not feel capable of watching football, now he “proudly” follows the teams with which he feels an affective bond, “because they are all in the First Division, Real Valladolid, Barça, the Real Sociedad, Girona and Celta, so every weekend there are interesting matches”.
He is taking steps, trying not to return to that abyss of sadness and negativity in which he settled after what happened, “looking for happiness”, leaning on his people, on all those who have been and are by his side, his children, Alejandro, Paula and Seema, and with another great reason not to give up, such as their grandchildren, Iago and Abril.
