Athena del Castillo ceases to be a ‘rare person’ in football and her sudden stop obscures her new reality | Relief

Injury Athena del Castillo This left him racking his brains for the last mandatory break. No trace of him. Because it doesn’t exist. Even before the Cantabrian winger became a professional footballer and shone on the fields of northern Spain. Nothing, never. The world champion has become a “rare bird” in football, which continually punishes its heroes with injuries.

Her “protected” status disappeared hours ago. Extreme He faces the longest injury of his career

. With a difference. Never before had he suffered failure on this scale. Neither in Reosin, nor in Ava Phoenix, nor in Racing (which absorbed the first two into its structure), nor in Depor. Until yesterday, Real Madrid’s Cantabrian winger had logged more minutes in his boots than anyone could have imagined. Over the past three years, Athena has played more than 40 games in each of them. Now brake hard.

Yesterday afternoon, as Andrea Pelaez, from COPE chainAs confirmed by Relevo, Athena del Castillo broke her right collarbone after an unfortunate fall while fighting for the ball. The world champion underwent surgery around 20:00 and spent the night in the Sanitas La Moraleja hospital. News that the white club confirmed a few hours later in an official statement.

The operation was completed very satisfactorily and the Madrid striker is now experiencing a new stage in her career: a period of absence from the field. She is healthy and determined to get over this as soon as possible. Of course, it won’t be until 2025 that he’ll wear the white shirt again. Estimated withdrawal period (it is important to highlight the word “estimated”): from two to three months.

His physical leap at Real Madrid

With his arrival at Real Madrid in the summer of 2021, his immunity to injury has strengthened. Athena del Castillo experienced a physical change, a real leap. Her lower body has changed and she has become a stronger soccer player. leaving behind the lighter footballer (in terms of her musculature) from Depor.

It is amazing that thanks to her privileged genetics, a player with her characteristics – vertical, experienced, fast and never spares effort – would never suffer a relatively serious injury. and her sporting discipline kept her in something of a bubble outside the demanding women’s football calendar.

Who knows, the bubble would not have burst if not for the unfortunate fall.

“She is very demanding of herself and hardworking. If she has to give herself another race so that you don’t give it to her, she will give it to her,” emphasized Chris Martinez, captain of Depor and the Depor team. Cantabria’s teammate during her time with the Corunnes team.

Last year Athena del Castillo He played 43 games for the white team, totaling 3,017 minutes in all competitions. (League F, Queen’s Cup, Champions Cup and Super Cup). Something similar happened in the two previous seasons – 2021/22 and 2022/23. 44 games (3283 minutes) in the first and 41 (2832) in the second.

For example, over the past two seasons, the Madrid winger has not missed a single league game, either as a starter or from the bench. You’ll have to go back to her first season as a white player (2021/22) to find a Liga F match without her: the match against Valencia on October 31, 2021, which ended in a 2-1 win for Madrid, with Esther Gonzalez’s brace scoring.

In addition, to all these figures it is necessary to add the minutes with the participation of the national team. Although his presence in the national team was limited with Jorge Vilda (76 minutes at the World Cup and 189 minutes at the last European Championship), his fame increased with the arrival of Montse Thomé. She was the seventh most popular player in Monse Thomé at the Olympics (411) and ninth in the League of Nations (436).

In the coming weeks Athena del Castillo will have to get used to a new daily routine. He missed the decisive part of the group stage of the Champions League, the championship match against Barça and two friendly matches with the national team against South Korea and France.