Article by Tudor Belivacă – Published Wednesday, November 19, 2025 9:50 p.m. / Updated Wednesday, November 19, 2025 9:56 p.m.
Andoni Zubizarreta (64 years old), former goalkeeper at Barcelona and Valenciaspoke about an episode that marked him during the time when he transferred from the Blaugrana club to the “bats”.
Zubizarreta moved to Valencia in 1994 after eight years in goal for Barcelona. His last appearance as a goalkeeper for Barcelona was the final of the UEFA Champions League in the 1993/94 season, lost to AC Milan, with the score 0-4.
Zubizarreta conveyed the fact that at the beginning of the period in Valencia he had a shocking episode that even now he cannot explain.
Andoni Zubizarreta recounted a shocking episode in his life: “It would have been a good reason to seek therapy and work on it”
“During my transfer from Barça to Valencia, in that process we had lost the Champions League final in Athens 0-4. The start at Valencia was good, we had Carlos Alberto Parreira as coach and excellent players. We started the championship very well and one day around October I was going to training. I was living in Rocafort and I was going to Paterna, which is five minutes away by car.
At some point, I don't know why, I stopped the car and stayed parked there for I don't know how long. What I thought was five minutes, in fact, was much longer,” Zubizarreta said, according to abola.pt.
“Then I started the car and went to training. When I arrived, training was already over. Parreira looked at me and said: “What happened? You're a professional”. I stayed for two hours, and there are two hours of my life that I don't know where I am. It would have been a good reason to seek therapy and work on it,” the former footballer said.
Currently, Zubizarreta lives in San Sebastian, his hometown, and leads a low-key life away from the media spotlight. Although he has distanced himself from high football positions, he remains connected to the sport, either as a consultant, commentator or through his participation in various sporting initiatives in Spain.
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Andoni Zubizaretta, a former goalkeeper, made his professional football debut at Alaves, and then played at Bilbao, Barcelona and Valencia. He retired in 1998 from the activity. He has the most matches in the Barcelona shirt: 410. He made his debut for the Spanish national team in 1985 and made 126 appearances.
