Joseba Etxeberria's Tearful Goodbye: The Impossible Game

After a 16 year stay in Athletic Bilbao, Joseba Etxeberria says goodbye to football (or soccer if you like).

His last official game was La Liga's Athletic vs. Deportivo, where he was substituted in the 70th minute and left the pitch in tears after hugging every player in it, from both his team and the other team.

He received a standing ovation while he did.

This match ended with a 2-0 win for Athletic with goals by Muniain (min 19) and Javi Martinez (min 77).

Joseba Etxeberria came to Bilbao from Real Sociedad in 1995 after having only played seven games in La Liga. He played for Athletic for the next 16 years, where he became an institution and was captain for some years.

Personally, I think his best year was 2003 when he scored 14 goals, and as a team, it would be 1998 when Athletic finished second to Real Madrid in La Liga, or 2009 when the team played the Spanish Cup final and Super Cup final, but lost both to Barcelona.

He played his last year almost for free, as he signed a two-year deal for half of what he was payed before. In his last year, he donated all his earnings to the Athletic Bilbao Foundation.

After his last official game, and due to a proposal by the Athletic Bilbao Foundation the team played another game in honor of Etxeberria.

This game was labeled by the Spanish press as "The Impossible Game", it featured Athletic Bilbao's team against 200 kids from the youth categories of the team.

There were about 20,000 people in attendance to see this game.

Athletic played with a classic 4-4-2 formation, while the youngsters played with three goalkeepers and a 20-60-17 formation.

The match ended with a 5-3 win for the pros, but was fun for everybody to watch and for the last five minutes, it was a 20 on 200 game as some Athletic players wanted to join in.

This was Etxeberrria's way to say goodbye after a 16-year career, 53 international games and who's only regret is to never have been able to win a championship with this team.

If you want to see part of the match here's a You Tube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elg-1kSYCKs