Making excuses for our failures is a human thing. Choosing the easier path and convincing ourselves that it was the only one, that sort of thing. But there are always many paths you can take. Luis Ezequiel Avila has taken them all before deciding that only the hardest one would give him happiness. This is his story.Seeing a 27-year-old Argentinean player at a mid-table La Liga team like Osasuna is hardly strange. There are quite a few South American players who are plying their trade in Spain. But Avila’s journey’s been a long and winding one – with too many painful detours.A teary farewell – Kun Aguero, the best player in the history of Manchester City, retires from footballGrowing up in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Rosario, Argentina gives you a choice early on: either you dedicate yourself to hard work, studying and staying on the right side of the law or you buy a revolver and try to make it quickly and dangerously. Speaking to Sid Lowe of ESPN, Chimy remembered his youth.”My mum would go out barefoot at night with my sisters looking for me so that I didn’t take the wrong path. I would go out with my friends, onto the street, aged 13 or 14 and do bad things. I would go around armed and fight in nightclubs, hanging out with people who went down the bad route all the time. Of the 30 friends from back then – 15 are dead, the other 15 in jail, you know? I have friends who died because of a stray bullet. You don’t know when it might happen to you. There were shootings every day.”These days, Avila is playing in one of the best leagues in the world and has scored against Barcelona the other day. He’s made his way to La Liga by playing in the Spanish second tier and then showing that he can do it on a higher level with Huesca. When they got relegated three years ago, Osasuna took the hard-working Argentine striker. But for a long time – it didn’t even look like Ezequiel was ever going to have a career in football.87′ Minute equaliser against FC Barcelona. A big goal for Chimy Avila 🔥🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/CtP3wxdfLQ— BD Albiceleste 🇦🇷🇧🇩⚽ (@albiceleste4bd) December 12, 2021 Avila started playing as a 16-year-old for a second division team Tiro Federal in Argentina, but it was earning next to nothing. He had no money for food or proper football boots. It didn’t look promising despite the talent. So he had to work.”I got a horse and cart, rode around collecting up cardboard, metal, aluminium, scrap. I did whatever I could do. I was a bricklayer, a painter, I cut hair… I didn’t like any of those jobs because I wanted to live off football. But I liked the feeling of doing it the hard way, honestly: getting up at 6 in the morning and coming home at 10 at night, knowing I hadn’t hurt anyone. That was the best work.”But his career at Tiro Federal was cut short after the club president accused Avila of stealing footballs, shirts and other equipment from the club premises to sell them. The club suspended him and made him sit out two years of his contract. He wasn’t playing, he was earning a pittance and was wrongfully accused. His innocence was later proven in court but those two years looked like they were going to end his career.Sunday, 20.30: (2.55) Getafe (2.95) Osasuna (3.40)To make things worse, Ezequiel’s young daughter got ill with a bad respiratory infection and actually went into cardiac arrest a few times. While the young one was in the hospital fighting for every breath, her parents were working from dawn to nightfall to earn a few pennies and make life tolerable. It was during one of those nights filled with uncertainty that Chimy promised to God that he would never do a shady thing in his life ever again and that he’d succeed in football – if only his daughter would live. And God kept His side of the bargain. It was Chimy’s turn.Luckily for the talented attacker, first division club San Lorenzo decided to take a chance on him and try to put his talent to good use. It worked. A few goals here and there and things started moving. The initial loan to Huesca was a huge step. The rest, as they say, is history – but Chimy is still writing his in every game and every training session. His style of play shows that he’s all in – there isn’t taking it easy. Every run and every duel he gets into feels like a battle for survival. There are many ways to play, but he’s picked the hardest.Gol de Chimy Ávila, uno di noi, siempre. pic.twitter.com/kz8Eae5cbc— Jorge Mazón (@JorgeMazonG) December 12, 2021 Avila jokes that his manner of playing the game has cost him two serious knee injuries. He’s torn his cruciate ligaments in both knees and had to miss more than a year of training. But in all those days he’s had the support of Osasuna fans and sheer determination to get back to his best. Those injuries probably cost him a dream transfer to Barcelona, but he has no regrets. After the long road he’s had to travel, Chimy knows that he should be grateful every day.”The people who are paying for the tickets are taking money off themselves to give it to you. So, can you lose? Yes. But never because you didn’t try. And it was the fans who drove my rehabilitation.”He’s been through hardship, danger and pain. And he’s proving every day that choosing the right way always pays off.
