Erik Lira is reunited with Pumas, the team he said goodbye to with tears and a lump in his throat

The 21-year-old youth, cataloged as the last jewel of the Pumas quarry, will now face his former team as a Cruz Azul player

Erik Lyra came to Blue Cross With mixed feelings. On the one hand, between a sea of ​​tears and a lump in the throat, but on the other with the happiness of knowing that he would follow his sports and professional development in a big team and with reflectors.

And it is that the youth of just 21 years, cataloged as the last jewel of the quarry of Cougars, left the feline club after just over 10 years since he first arrived at Pumitas. Soccer took him to Necaxa, but only for Andrés Lillini to rescue him in 2020 and push him to be a benchmark in contention.

Lira confessed on his social media account that his farewell to everyone at the Pedregal club cost him a lot and he “gives a lump in his throat to leave them”, and it is that ESPN was able to confirm with sources close to the player that everyone in the dressing room, as well as the helmsman, Andrés Lillini, had a hard time overcoming the loss.

These sources shared that with Lillini he came to tears, because he saw him as a sports father who promoted him to his best moment.

This version coincides with the times that Juan Pablo Vigón and Carlos Gonzaleznow Tigres players, but with a past in Cougarsthey see the Argentine strategist, who was key in their careers so that they could reach the Sultana del Norte.

Even on day 3 of this Closure 2022Vigón and González saw Lillini at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario for the game between Cougars and Tigers. There, the three merged in a supportive hug full of respect and affection.

“Because of the form and the situations, (Juan Pablo) Vigón was a born leader with good humor, who always had one more effort on the court. I miss Carlos González because he assumed the responsibility of a function that I gave him in the last few games, having had the greatness to accept not playing as a striker and playing outside. He sacrificed the goal, his effort is missed,” he told ESPN in August 2021.

“And then someone who came from Chivas because he was the third winger and ended up going to the Mexican National Team with us, which is Alejandro Mayorga. In the position we only had Jerónimo Rodríguez and him, a boy who contributed a lot to us and today he is surprised because we have to use Chispa Velarde as central defender due to the lack of players”, he added.

And it is that this site was able to know that together with these three elements, Lira He is one of the players who has had the most impact on Lillini and of whom he is most proud, as well as another who is Johan Vásquez, who today plays for Genoa in Italy in Serie A.

“It’s my first game facing them as a rival (at Cougars). I’m very happy and I’m going to face it like just another match”, Lira acknowledged this Friday at a press conference prior to the duel.

“As you say, they are my friends, I know them and obviously you approach one of them and say, watch out, it goes inside, but as I repeat, we are going to take it as one more game. In my moment I gave everything for Cougars which is my home, it shaped me as a person and a player. Now I’m here, it’s a new challenge and it’s to grow and improve”, he concluded. Lira.