Iker Muniain leaves Athletic Club after 15 seasons in the first team. The second player with the most games in the history of the Basque team (557), only behind Iribar (614), will leave the discipline once the League ends, as Athletic has announced on its social networks: “You have been the best of my life, but now, my love, the time has come to separate us," the captain declared.
The Txantrea player leaves the club of his life after winning the long-awaited Copa del Rey, where the Navarrese scored a goal in the penalty shootout: "I leave happy with the dream of having won the much-desired twenty-fifth Cup title and having taken the barge out 40 years later," explains the captain in the farewell video.
Muniain, who in his career with the Bilbao team has scored 75 goals, has declared that "it was a very difficult decision, but it is the best for both Athletic and me." Likewise, the captain has sent a message to the fans: "It has been incredible, the communion that we have shown between the fans and the team shows that we are truly unique in the world. My last goal is to fight for that dreamed of Champions League position," he commented the Navarrese
In addition to the cup trophy won in La Cartuja, Muniain has won two Super Cups with Athletic, in 2014 and 2019. However, he has also lost many finals, having been runner-up in the Cup five times and one more in the Europa League.
The Navarrese player arrived at Athletic Club when he was 12 years old, as a child, and quickly made his way into the first team, as he made his debut at 16 in a Europa League first leg match between Athletic and Young Boys. In the second leg, the Txantrea player managed to be the second youngest red-and-white footballer to score a goal, after Txomín Acedo.
Iker Muniain has not revealed which team he will continue his sporting career with, or if he will follow in the footsteps of his teammate Raúl García, who recently announced that he will leave football once the league competition ends.
