Unai Simón: “This team is very ambitious”
Unai Simón: “This team is very ambitious”
The goalkeeper, who returned to training at Lezama this week, says he will give “100 percent to play every week”.
Athletic Club goalkeeper Unai Simón is confident the Lions can achieve great things in 2021-22, admitting he was very impressed with how the team performed in pre-season and the first two LaLiga fixtures of the season.
The shotstopper, who returned to training this week, missed Athletic’s first two LaLiga Santander matches, as he was on holiday after spending the summer with the Spanish national team at Euro 2020 and then the Tokyo Olympics.
“This team is very ambitious,” Unai said at a press-conference in Lezama on Wednesday morning. “If we keep playing the same way we have done, I can see us fighting for European qualification along with the other big teams in LaLiga.”
He continued: “The Athletic matches I’ve seen were very fast-paced, except for the game against St. Gallen, which we can put down to it being the first one of the pre-season.
“It’s very easy to notice the tempo we want to play at. We’ve already seen it against Elche and Barça. The team has a lot of ambition and desire to win games.”
While Unai was resting, young goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala stepped up to play against Elche CF and FC Barcelona. Simón reiterated that competition for places in the position is positive for Athletic and speaks volumes about the work done at Lezama.
“Julen and Jokin [Ezkieta] push me to be better,” Simón said. “I’m going to be giving it 100 percent to play every weekend.
“We’re lucky to have three goalkeepers who can play at the highest level. We know how hard it is to produce goalkeepers who can play in the top divisions.”
When asked about last season, Unai acknowledged that his experiences have helped him to grow as a footballer and a person.
Simón played in four finals in 2020-21 -three with Athletic and one for the Spanish national side- in addition to reaching the semi-finals at Euro 2020.
“It was a beautiful and long season in which I was able to compete at the highest level, and in which I had some great, and some not so great, moments,” he added.
“You improve every day, both as a footballer and emotionally. I made some bad mistakes, knowing what they entailed.
“And that makes you mature and become a better person psychologically. These are unique experiences as a goalkeeper and as a person.”