Pol Arnau, the hero of Logroñés: “I looked at the sky and my father gave me energy”

It is one of the most surreal things I have seen on a football field. We have passed on penalties against a great team, with one less on the field and with a goalkeeper who is not a goalkeeper,” summarized a stunned Sergio Rodríguez, coach of UD Logroñés, the team that eliminated Girona in the Cup on Wednesday. He did it in Las Gaunas, a stadium where not many people go because the Second RFEF matches do not attract much.

But if Girona or another First Division team comes, things change. And on Wednesday 6,000 spectators watched as a footballer from the reserve team, the same one who scored the goal against Eibar in extra time that allowed Logroñés to advance in the Cup, acted as a hero. This time, between the three suits. His name is Pol Arnau and he is the son of Francesc Arnau, who was a Barça goalkeeper and who died in 2021. He is also the brother of Marc, the Mollerussa goalkeeper. Instead, he is a lateral. He preferred to run, press and steal balls than stop them. Like his mother, María José Camacho, who played for Barça and Málaga.

In Las Gaunas it all started when Kike Royo, the team’s goalkeeper, was lying half unconscious on the stretcher. Logroñés had exhausted all the changes. They were 0-0, they were in the first half of extra time and they continued fighting. Pol Arnau is 19 years old. But he didn’t think about it. “I told the coach that I had the instinct of a goalkeeper, that it came from my family through my brother and my father,” he explained yesterday. While the coach decided which field player he would sacrifice knowing that they were left with 10 against Girona, Alejandro Daza, the substitute goalkeeper, gave the gloves to Arnau. “They were a little big for me but they didn’t work badly,” Pol recalled smiling.

I talk to my father every day and before every game. “I’m sure he’s proud.”

The rest is history. Pol Arnau made two worthy saves until the team reached the penalty shootout. “The referee explained to me the issue of keeping your foot on the goal line. I understand that the goalkeepers are clear about it, but to me, just in case, he explained it to me in more detail,” he said, referring to De Burgos Bengoetxea’s instructions. He also had a conversation with Pau López, Girona goalkeeper. “I asked him if they had rehearsed the foot on the line thing. He told me that they were already used to it. The truth is that I couldn’t stop laughing. It looked like the schoolyard when you play goalkeeper because it’s your turn,” added Pol.

In the round he missed a pitch that he promised to “practice in the future.” Stuani missed another one. And then he saved a penalty from an Olympic champion like Abel Ruiz. “Daza showed me the paper where he had written down how they take penalties. He told me that Abel always threw them to the left. And that with the others, I should let myself be guided by my intuition,” he explained.

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And after?

“You feel a lot of emotions. It’s hard to sleep. I was answering messages until late. The one that moved me the most was that of my brother Marc. He was proud of me. My brother is a goalkeeper and in recent years in the Catalunya Cup he has saved many penalties. And doing what he did gave me double the joy and excitement. Because I always asked him what he felt. And after what happened on Wednesday, I already know what it feels like,” explained the soccer player, who was attended by his mother, María José Camacho, in the stands. He visits him a lot.

I couldn’t stop laughing. “That was like being in a schoolyard.”

Pol lives in the club’s residential building in the center of the city. At the club they define him as “a shy boy who transforms on the field. “He is very hard-working and ambitious.” In the residence he shares a room with his teammate Riki, from the subsidiary. But this season Pol has practically not trained with Logroñés B. His contract ends in June and they wanted to test him. This Cup has opened many doors for him. “My teammates received me very well. We are a great group. It was clear to me that I had to take advantage of this opportunity. And I am fortunate to score the goal against Eibar and stop in the penalty shootout as goalkeeper against Girona,” he added.

“I told the coach that I had goalkeeping instincts, that it came from my family.”

This is his second season in Logroño. Before, he grew up as a footballer in the Málaga youth academy and then moved to Oviedo where his father, Francesc Arnau, worked in the club’s technical direction until his death. The family then returned to Barcelona, ​​the city where both brothers were born. And Pol Arnau signed for Damm until Logroñés B incorporated him. “I am very grateful to my family because they have not always been happy moments like now and they have always supported me.”

The young footballer also remembered his father “whom I talk to every day. I also did it yesterday just before the penalties, I looked at the sky and he gave me energy, I’m sure he will be proud,” he said.