Eusebio Sacristán, excited at the beginning of his exhibition at Los Desayunos de la APDV /
The former soccer player and former coach speaks for the first time about his return to life 25 months after entering an induced coma
He had not stood in front of a microphone or before a capacity, more or less populated, since Christmas 2020, the day he fell down the stairs when he was going to the bathroom in a bar and suffered a severe head injury. Since then there have been 25 months of extreme hardship for him, of relapses, of getting up again, mini-crises, of a lot of internal work,… of starting from scratch.
Eusebio Sacristán (La Seca, Valladolid, 1964) entered an induced coma at Christmas 2020 and in those first days he had to overcome a critical moment that only those closest to him know well. In all this time he has re-learned, almost as if he were a child, such basic aspects as starting to speak, managing on his own and relating to others. Chewing in the shade a whole process of extreme complexity that he has been carrying out surrounded by specialists in his recovery between Barcelona and Valladolid.
«I was not prepared to talk to anyone, after the accident I did not see myself prepared, only with my sister (Tere) and my children, who came to see me. I couldn’t tell them anything and that was my process for a long time. 25 months have passed since then, I am a little better and more prepared to be able to speak and that has given me a little joy. I did not know how my life was going to be, I thought it was going to be a disaster and that I was not going to be able to relate to anyone, and little by little things have been changing”, he began his story, visibly moved, in an exhibition that has It has been followed by different parts of the country, where it also left its mark, in the case of Vigo, Donosti or Girona”, he commented in the surroundings of the facilities of the Royal Equestrian Society, and within Los Desayunos of the APDV (Association of the Sports Press of Valladolid).
His return to normality, something as simple as talking surrounded by friends, has been a life lesson for those present through a story that, at times, has made those present stand on end. «There are times when I have difficulties talking to others, I think that I will not be able to have a normal conversation with others. I am working with the speech therapists, the optometrist, they provide me with the phrases that can help me recover my day to day. I have thought a lot about how I could go back to being my day to day, and the important thing is my recovery. But I’m in Valladolid, I have many friends and that helps me to be better. I thought about what my life had been like and I have been realizing that the things I set out to do have been fulfilled. I remember the mentality I had as a child in La Seca when I thought about being a footballer”, he recounted, recalling in his presentation the moment in which Ramón Martínez and Santi Llorente went to Pedrajas, “when I was 15 years old”, to recruit him for Real Valladolid.
«Now I am in a mentality process, and on that path I am and I continue to be well again, to have the ability to have a normal relationship with others again. I thank you for being here by my side”, he commented, admitting that in all this time working in the shadows “I have thought that when things happen to you in life, they happen to you for something”, said Use, al that the doctors still won’t let him drive.
At that point in his speech, still stuck and hesitant due to the consequences that the clot in his head has left, the motive that has surrounded his entire life emerged. And when Use talks about football, the words appear and he feels a little more secure. Will he come back? «I have thought about the possibility of facing other things, but first there is my recovery. Would I be a coach again? Would I get excited? What I have done the longest and know the most is football. Prepared? Buffffff! I have to recover », he has acknowledged, appreciating the work that Pacheta is doing at Real Valladolid. «I met him a few days ago and asked him how he does to keep all his players happy. It is no longer just transmitting your idea as a coach, but how you treat 25 footballers, how you interact and treat them on a day-to-day basis”, he pointed out.
In the final stretch of his return to the media spotlight, Eusebio has reviewed the reason for creating a foundation at the time. “I finished my career as a player and I took the idea that I had to give children the chance to play football,” he explains, confessing to those present that the first book he read after his accident was ‘They live, tragedy in the Alps ‘. «I was struck by his mentality to achieve the objectives. They thought that they were not going to survive but they thought that they wanted to see their parents and that force made them get out of difficulties. Ten people came out of the mountains without having any means. It was important in my life”, also pointing out two other names of writers who published motivation scenarios, such as the books by Roberto Canesa and Nando Parrado.
Breakfast with Eusebio Sacristán has ended with an unexpected question for the protagonist himself. You are happy? «Well… I have been very sad and negative for a long time, but little by little I think a lot in a much happier and happier way».
