De Marcos: "I feel fulfilled. Hopefully I can get the team into the Champions League"
De Marcos: "I feel fulfilled. Hopefully I can get the team into the Champions League"
Óscar de Marcos spoke to the media after announcing that he will retire at the end of the season
Oscar de Marcos will retire at the end of the current campaign "on his own terms", admitting that he is certain this is the right decision for him and his family.
The captain's 16-year-spell at Athletic will finally come to an end, with the defender explaining that the moment the "doubts" which normally convince him to continue have not come this season.
"As I have said on many occasions, it's a decision that's been years in the making, but until now there's always been a moment during the season in which my body tells me that I have to continue," the skipper said at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
"I've been waiting for months to see if my body would tell me I need to keep going and that moment hasn't come. Instead I've been simply enjoing myself and I want to remain useful and important until the last day."
De Marcos achieved a lifelong dream by lifting the Copa with his boyhood club and he hopes to add to that before the end of his time at Athletic.
He said: "I've been here for 16 years and I've fulfilled more dreams than I ever could've ever imagined when I first came here. And we can still try to achieve one more.
"The Europa League is difficult, we have to be realistic. Athletic have never won it. But I will keep dreaming until the last day I play for this club."
The no.18 wants to enjoy the final few months of his playing career and acknowleged feeling a sense of "freedom" after making his decision public.
"I'm going to savour every match I play from now until the end," he added.
"Annoucing this hasn't already given me a certain sense of freedom to keep expressing myself. I hope that we continue with the same spirit we've had since the beginning of the season, all together, as one.
"Hopefully I can help get the team into the Champions League and see my teammates enjoy playing in that competition. I've already played in it and now new generations have to come in, experience it, make us enjoy it, and, in my case, make me enjoy it as a fan."