Carlos Suárez has said goodbye to Unicaja. The so far green captain ends a journey of 437 games and nine seasons at the Martín Carpena. The club and the player held a farewell press conference this Friday in which the player from Madrid was able to put the finishing touch to his time at Unicaja and officially say goodbye to the fans. The president, López Nieto, announced that the ideal moment will be sought to pay tribute to him on the track with all the fans in the stands.
Goodbye message: “After nine years it is normal for this step of saying goodbye to be so complicated, but it is a step that must be taken at some point. It is time to face it and I would like to do so while being grateful to all those who have been able to share this wonderful stage of my life: teammates, coaches, the people at the club… Thank you all very much for making me feel like one of the family. I want to have a special mention for two people who brought me here, Joan Plaza and Eduardo García. Joan Plaza convinced me to come here and change my path when I had my bags packed to go to Italy. I don’t want to forget Antonio Jesús López Nieto. It has been a complicated year in terms of results, but I am very grateful for your This season, a different person leaves Unicaja than the one who arrived in 2013. Here I have grown as a player and, above all, as a person. Great things have happened to me that have marked my personal life until I am who I am today. today. Indelible memories like the Eurocup or magical nights at Carpena, where the fans have always been ten, supporting me in good times and bad. I felt very loved and very identified. It has been an honor to have defended this shirt and to have been your captain for all these years. I would have liked to continue for another year despite the fact that these last two years have been complicated, but I respect the club’s decision to change many things in the project and start a new cycle. I am part of that change and I assume it with responsibility and the desire for the team to return to the place it deserves both in Spanish and European basketball. I take many friends from Malaga. I say goodbye to this part of my sports career, but not to the city or its people. I’m leaving as just another man from Malaga and I’ll follow the team’s successes as a fan. I wish all the best for Unicaja.”
How have these last days been? “They have been special for me. It has been a complicated year due to many factors: injuries, we didn’t get the results… I have felt the love of the fans, my teammates, the staff… I feel very grateful. The first day I I came not even in my wildest dreams did I think I was going to do the career I’ve done at Unicaja. Malaga has given me many things”.
Future “I don’t know, honestly. I wanted to disconnect these days. I’m going to keep coming to the club to recover from the injury, I have little left. I have no idea about my future. I’m assimilating this new change in cycle and there will be times to think Where am I going to be next year? Thinking about recovering, getting in a good physical tone and when whatever comes, we’ll see”.
His best and worst moment at Unicaja “The best moment is when we won the Eurocup. That has been the most important moment of my career because nobody expected it. Few players thought we were going to play that game and how it went. Then the reception from the people was spectacular. And the worst It’s clear, it’s the injuries because they don’t give you continuity. In recent years the pandemic issue has also been complicated.”
Possible return to Unicaja in the future “Right now I want to continue playing, in the future my life will be here in Malaga. My residence, I am very clear, is going to be here, that is what I have assumed. If Unicaja wants to count on me in the future, I will be delighted”.
How did the club inform you of the decision? “Every year the sports director makes a personal assessment of each player and he told me. I took it on and that’s it. This is professional sport, you shouldn’t blame someone for telling you. It happened with me and it will happen with others. I am eternally grateful to the club. This was going to come, sooner or later. We players have an expiration date. I have always said it, I told Juanma, all the staff and the president, I am grateful because for me the Unicaja has been the club of my life”.
message to fans “The fans will be hurt, the players will be too. We don’t care. It’s been a very difficult year. We didn’t get the victories we should have and it has affected us morally. Right now, together with Juanma, Ibon and Antonio, it’s going to change a cycle. A more compensated team is going to be created and there will be better results. I ask for patience and trust in those responsible for the club and that fans, who have always been the best in Spain, next year I hope they will see the results that Unicaja has I used to have throughout its history”.
New cycle “The results have not been what the club wants. I am a player and I have not dedicated myself to sports management and being a coach. It is clear that there has been a lack of solidity. We had many players with the same profile, it has been said for active and passive. That type of player who does a less flashy job but who is so important for the team is missing. I’m sure that next year’s team will be very competitive and will be up there”.
His historic quintet from his time at Unicaja “As a base I would put Alberto Díaz, not because he is here in front, but because he is a guy who makes a team. He is going to be a spectacular captain. Of two I would put Jayson Granger. Of three I am between Nedovic and Jamar Smith, players who gave us a lot that year. Out of four I would put Will Thomas and out of five I would put Fran Vázquez. As for the coaches, I have been here many years for Joan Plaza and I have a lot to thank him for. Coming here has been the best decision of my career” .
If a colleague asks you for advice on Unicaja? “I tell him to come, but not only because the city is wonderful. The club is also wonderful. Unicaja is among the top three or four in Spain by far.”
