Pablo García explains his tears as he left Betis for Racing

“It was when I realised I had to pack my bag that the fuses blew.” That is how Pablo García explained the tears that marked the end of the transfer window. The scene had been one of the most striking of that final evening: accompanied by his mother, the player left the Ciudad Deportiva Luis del Sol in tears after collecting his belongings, hours before heading to Santander to join Racing.

Three weeks later, while gathered with Spain’s under-21 team, the Betis academy product looked back on that night and on a reaction that reflected the pain of ending 15 years at the club of his life. He said the decision suited both the club and himself, while stressing that Real Betis remained “the club [he] loves”. He nevertheless believes such stages have to be gone through.

According to him, the emotion truly burst out when it was time to prepare for the move. He also explained that his mother, his family and he had endured the final moments before packing very badly. “Fifteen years is an entire life at Real Betis,” he said, believing that feelings then naturally rise to the surface.

Pablo García considers his tears logical given his attachment to Betis and his way of experiencing football, which he sees as “more than kicking a ball”. He summed up the volatility of the final hours with one line: “At one moment everything is white, at another everything is black.”

His departure had caused some controversy, both because of the images from that night and the explanations subsequently offered by the club. Ángel Haro had said the day after the transfer window closed that the player had been seeking a move for several weeks, anticipating difficulties in getting playing time this season.

Asked about it again, Pablo García avoids any confrontation with Betis. He insists that the decisions on the final day involved everyone, especially in the last hours. He does not hide his feelings for Real Betis, but believes that episode now belongs to the past. The moment was also difficult for his parents, whose suffering he says he understands.

The forward now wants to draw a line under that period and focus on Racing de Santander, for whom he intends to give everything. He says he is already “very happy” in Santander. His goal and starting place in his first match, he says, boosted his confidence and sped up his adaptation.

He also says he has been surprised by the level of his new club. Used, in his words, to a very high level at Real Betis, he found strong competition and a great deal of individual quality at Racing, requiring him to work and stay alert.

That strong start has also enabled him to retain his place with Spain’s under-21 team. His ambitions go further: he says he works every day, with the national side and at club level, in an effort to break into a senior national-team call-up.

His departure has not changed his feelings towards Betis. But if he has to face the Verdiblancos, he promises to put them aside for 90 minutes. He describes such a match as special and hopes to beat Betis, score two goals and receive a warm welcome. More emphatically, he said that in a Racing-Betis match, his first instinct would be to try to score “a few”; he would apologise to the stands if necessary, without giving up on scoring more.

After 15 years at Betis, Pablo García is not closing the door on crossing paths with his former club again either. But he does not want to discuss that for now: his priority is to give everything for Racing.