A year and a half ago the tragedy struck Luis Enrique.
The young daughter of the current coach of the Spanish soccer team, Xana, lost her life when she was only nine years old due to bone cancer, which she faced for five months.
That was a great blow that shook the whole family of the former Barça player and coach.
The coach left his position as coach and focused on his wife, the economist Elena Cullel and a member of the Catalan bourgeoisie, and his other two children, Pacho and Sira.
“Our daughter Xana passed away this afternoon at the age of nine after fighting for five intense months with osteosarcoma.
We are grateful for all the expressions of affection received during these months and we appreciate the discretion and understanding ”, Luis Enrique posted on Twitter in August 2019, who had resigned in June of that year as coach for personal reasons that were not known at the time. released.
A few months later, in November 2019, Luis Enrique took back the reins of his professional life and took charge of La Roja again.
"I wanted to get my life back and go back to doing what I like the most, relating to football, and showing my family that life goes on," he said upon his return, in which he received the support of his family.
Now it has been her daughter Sira who has once again remembered the deceased little girl in an interview with
Vanity Fair
magazine
.
“What I have lived with my sister has made me see life in a different way.
Before I was overwhelmed by the slightest problem.
Now I stop to think that you have to live and enjoy every moment ”, reflects the 20-year-old who since last Sunday has become the Spanish jumping champion in the category of young riders.
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A post shared by Sira Martinez (@siramartinezc)
In addition to her passion for horses (since she was seven years old, she has been riding at the Open Sports Club of Barcelona, a high-performance equestrian center on the outskirts of Barcelona), Sira talks in the interview about what she has learned in this time since her sister passed away.
“It is not known when our end will be.
I try to cope well and get the positive side out of everything ", adds the daughter of the national coach, who, she explains, has learned to appreciate more the day to day:" I am going to live life for myself and my sister. "
The young woman lives in Belgium, the cradle of equestrianism, where she is dedicated to riding, although she moves throughout Europe from competition to competition.
And whenever he can, he travels to Spain to reunite with his family, what he misses the most about his life away.
Towards his mother he only has words of affection - "she is a madrassa" - and from his father he confirms what he himself shows from the bench.
“It has character, but it is very familiar.
He loves to gather us all in front of the fireplace and play cards, for example.
And travel.
At Christmas we always go outside ”, he says.
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A post shared by Sira Martinez (@siramartinezc)
With only a year and a half Sira accompanied Luis Enrique to the Camp Nou and since then soccer has been in her blood.
Before becoming passionate about equines, he tried the ball.
"I practiced when I was little, but I was terrible at it."
He assures that at home they do not speak much about football, but he does receive advice from his father regarding his equestrian competitions: “My father is competitive
and he knows what attitude to have in sport.
I am like him: if there is something I want, I will go for it ”.
She is not the only one who has inherited a passion for sports from her father.
His older brother Pacho, who works in an audit in the Catalan capital, also played football as a child and now practices boxing.
Sira combines her dream with the third year of Business Administration and Management, which she studies at a distance at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC).
“I organize myself well.
When I grow up I see myself on my farm, competing and raising horses ”, comments this polyglot rider who speaks English and only speaks Catalan with her maternal grandmother.
When she is neither jumping nor studying, she loves to “read romance novels” and spend time with her boyfriend, the horseman Paco Goyoaga, the grandson of one of the most illustrious Spanish equestrian athletes.
