"This is not the end I would have liked", "Rafa" Márquez is retiring from football



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After the whistle announcing a new World Cup elimination, Rafael Márquez gave himself the time to console some of his teammates who finished the match and cried. Then he crossed himself, looked at the sky and disappeared through the stadium tunnel.

He will never enter the peloton either with the national team or with a club.

After five World Cups and a career of nearly 22 years, Marquez's career had a sad end, when Mexico fell to Brazil. For the seventh consecutive World Cup, El Tri was ransacked in the 16th.

" This is not the end I would have wanted, we came to Russia to try to achieve things in a group and not individually," Márquez said at the end of the match. " Maybe I'm getting mad because of the way this is going on"

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Márquez, one of the most successful Mexican footballers in history were the surprise of the starting lineup and played the first 45 minutes, which allowed to preserve the draw without goal. But the central defender left the Samara Arena with the rest of the Mexicans for another failed attempt to reach the elusive goal of a quarter-final away from home.

" We are proud of the game we played, we had a few chances to score against a team that aspires to the title, which is why we are proud of what has been shown today. "said Márquez. " We are going head high, sad to be out of the World Cup and we have proposed something else ."

The former defender of Barcelona, ​​who had announced that Russia 2018 would be the last tournament of his career, He played 148 games with his team, the third highest number of history for a Mexican. He leaves behind him the greatest number of matches in the World Cups for an Aztec football player, with 18.

In addition, he is accompanied by Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Javier Hernández, one of the three players of the Sorting with three World Cups

In Russia, the 39-year-old veteran put his name on the record books when he participated in his fifth World Cup to join his compatriot Antonio " Tota "Carbajal and the German Lothar Matheus. But at his last World Cup, he played only 83 minutes in three different matches: 22 against Germany, 16 against South Korea, both replaced Andres Guardado, against Brazil played 45 minutes.

For the beginning of the second half Layún replaced Márquez. Shortly after, Neymar's goal opened the way for Brazil's 2-0 win.

Matheus spent 314 minutes on the field in four of the five matches that Germany played in France in 1998, his fifth World Cup. Carbajal appeared 90 minutes in a clash against Uruguay for the first phase of England 1966, also in his fifth cut.

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Márquez's goodbye was sad not only because of what happened inside the camp, but on the outside.

In August, he was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for his alleged relationship with a drug dealer in the city of Guadalajara.

Márquez denied having links with organized crime and began a crusade to erase his name. But he remains on the sanctions list and since he has entered the final roster for Russia until the last session he did it with a shirt without announcing sponsors, suspecting to be related to him.

"Rafa" Márquez retires from football against Brazil / Getty images

In Russia, Márquez also did not appear on a public stage off the field because it was d & # 39; agreement with the Mexican Federation to avoid a possible conflict with a sponsor.

The Treasury sanction prohibits US companies Márquez and one of the biggest sponsors of the Tri is Coca-Cola.

Márquez made his debut in Mexico with the Atlas club at the age of 17. Three seasons later, he emigrated to the French Monaco, where he was champion in his first season.

In 2003 he was acquired by Barcelona, ​​with whom he lived seven years of glory. He won the leagues of 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010, as well as the Champions of 2006 and 2009. In this last year, he was also crowned in the Club World Cup

"Rafa" Márquez withdraws from football against Brazil / Getty images

Later, he played with the New York Red Bulls and returned to the Mexican league in 2012 to join León, with whom he performed a bicampeonato.

The defender returned to Europe in 2014 to play with the Verona Hellas and again returned to the Mexican soil, with the Atlas where he spent the last three years of his career and retired this year.

" Rafa " participated in the Korea-Japan World Cup 2002, Germany 2006, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018, are now ready for a life without football.

" For the moment, I will enjoy free time, have 22 years of uninterrupted career and in the future I will surely be involved in football ", has -he says.

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