“The passion here is crazy”

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“This morning, as soon as you got up, my son, oihan, he already told me ‘aita, I’m going to go see the final, huh. I’m going’. ‘Yes yes’. The day after of beat Seville [2-1, con un gol del azulgrana Ez Abde en la prórroga] we booked the hotel for the four of us”, smiles Patxi Dagger (Huarte, Navarra, 1975). He continues to be the footballer in the entire history of Osasuna with the most games: 513, more than 120 over the second. From 1997 to 2014. Legend and icon of the El Sadar club, he is today the technical director of the youth academy.

Radiant, she recounts that this Wednesday Oihan, 10, went to the ikastola, to school, wearing her Osasuna. “When he came back he told me that the whole school was singing Osasuna’s song never gives up, kids and teachers. And that they have also heard those on the floor above sing “, she accentuates.

The memory of 2005

“It’s crazy passion that there is here, in this very small city”, he affirms. “Here we always say that there is two things that unite us. Socially or politically equal we are a city or a community somewhat dividedbut there are two things that unite all Navarrese: the Sanfermines and Osasuna. There is a brutal feeling of belonging”, says the former midfielder. He lived from the green the first and until now only final of the Copa del Rey of the club, in 2005 against Betis at the Vicente Calderon. The team of Javier Aguirre lost in extra time, 2-1.

On Tuesday he lived from the stands of San Mamés the tie that gave access to the final, with nerves because Athletic was superior in many phases of the match. When he crossed his fingers for the penalties to come, Pablo Ibanez Bilbao silenced with 1-1. “It was an explosion of jump, hug each other, scream“, he assures.

four extensions

Osasuna overcame another epic tie, the fourth in a row after reaching extra time: they beat Nàstic de Tarragona, Sevilla and Athletic in extra time and beat the Betis on penalties. “The rival can be superior, but the team knows how to suffer. Sometimes it has to suffer, but the team is comfortable even in suffering. It knows how to be, endure and look for its moment. It is not easy to beat Osasuna. They are rarely easily overcome “, he highlights.

But advance that Osasuna is much more than its resilience: “That image of Osasuna of hitting the ball up, contesting it and playing to the fall is long gone. That of getting into the low block and holding out to see if we catch a corner has already gone a bit into history. We have many strong points. Are dominant in the areas, we master the transitions and when we have to play we know how to associate and come together. We are talking about a mature and complete team that knows how to adapt to many situations and many records”.

know how to enjoy

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Puñal admits that he is “living and enjoying” this Cup because now he lives it and enjoys it “from the sidelines” and because “all this is a bit the confirmation how well things are going at the club. Is he climax to the good health of the club sporting and institutional”. The team is already classified for the Next Spanish Super Cup and he is one game away from lifting his first elite title and returning to Europe for the first time since 2006-2007. That course made history by playing the Champions League and reached UEFA Cup semi-finals, after beating Girondins, Rangers and Bayer Leverkusen. He gave in to Sevilla, winner of the final against Espanyol.

The former soccer player assures that once we reach the final of La Cartuja we will have to fight for the title, but he is prudent: “What we are going to experience will be to remember, sure, but we are going to have our feet on the ground. We are sensible and we know that when it comes to football you have to live day by day and always keep your ears pricked up, because we see teams like Valencia or Sevilla They have big budgets and good players and they are having a hard time. You have to know how to enjoy when things are going well, but go looking at everything out of the corner of my eye and have everything well controlled to be able to continue fighting and move forward when things go wrong”.



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