He decline of the Royal Zaragoza to First Federation left one of the hardest images of the season in the press room of the Gran Canaria Stadium. David Navarrocoach of the Aragonese team, appeared visibly affected, with a broken voice and unable to contain his tears when talking about the historic blow that the Spanish club has just suffered.
«I feel like any Zaragoza fan, I haven’t been able to, we haven’t been able to move it forward. It hasn’t been enough», acknowledged the coach, assuming sporting responsibility for a fall that puts an end to more than a decade of suffering in the Second Division. Navarro avoided looking for blame and asked for internal reflection: «I am not the one to point fingers at anyone nor is it the time. “Things have to be solved behind closed doors.”
The coach left one of the most striking phrases of the night when explaining the wear and tear that the entity is experiencing: «Zaragoza is a very large rock and it is eroding». Even so, he insisted that the club must rebuild from pain and not from self-deception. «It’s time to feel it, to let the anger out. May this wound not close falsely. For those of us who have had to live through this, it will never be closed.”
Navarro also warned of the enormous risk of abandoning professional football: «Recovering the category is not easy with just the name. Real Zaragoza is still great, but that is not enoughto”. Despite this, he wanted to send a message of hope to the fans: «Zaragoza has not left even though it is in the First Federation. “His place is in the First Division and fighting for the Copa del Rey.”
I have remembered the first days that I went to La Romareda as a child
The most emotional moment came when he remembered his childhood linked to the club. Through tears, she confessed: «I have remembered the first days that I went to La Romareda as a child. “I dreamed of being a player, then a coach… and I have had to live this.” He also had words for the fans and the club’s workers: “It hurts for all of them. “Many people expected us to achieve it and we couldn’t.”
Far from talking about a definitive break, Navarro appealed to recover the historical identity of the club: «It is not a reconstruction because Zaragoza is not broken. It is in the First Federation, yes, but it is still Real Zaragoza. “We have to go back to being what made us great.”