SA celebrates Kgatlana’s landmark Spanish top-flight season

South Africa on Wednesday celebrated Thembi Kgatlana’s breakout season for SD Eibar in the Spanish Primera Division, as her 10 goals saw her eclipse Benni McCarthy as the country’s most lethal striker in Spanish top flight football.

Banyana Banyana star Kgatlana has this season scored 10 of Eibar’s 28 league goals, also providing six assists, in a hugely successful first season in Spain.

McCarthy’s best season in LaLiga saw him score eight goals for Celta Viga, though he also scored six goals in the Europa League for Vigo that season.

“I looked up at Benni’s eight goals at the beginning of the season, now he is looking up to my 10. To emulate a player such as Benni and to succeed in the Spanish league is amazing. Benni was a beast of a player in his prime and I am glad I am following in his footsteps in the right way,” Kgatlana said from Eibar in a virtual media conference organised by LaLiga Southern Africa in partnership with the South African Football Journalists Association.

“Being in Spain is amazing. I’ve travelled everywhere in the world, but playing in Spain I’ve recorded my best ever statistics as a professional footballer. I am more comfortable in Spain, because of the way we play at Eibar. The club allows me to express myself and to be creative, while also becoming more of a team player,” Kgatlana added.

Having lived in some of the world’s most populous cities, she’s enjoying the relative calm of Eibar.

“Eibar is a really great city. I’ve played in some of the biggest cities in the world, in Houston, Beijing and Lisbon, but Eibar is very different. It’s a small city with only about 27 000 people. Everyone is connected and as it’s the only team in the city, everyone supports Eibar. It is the first time Eibar is in the Primera Division, and normally when you play against the bigger teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid people say ‘you have to respect them, they play good football’, but with the way I’ve been leading my team in the frontline has helped ensure there is a different way people look at Eibar and respect us a bit more,” says Kgatlana.

Kgatlana celebrated her success by giving away two of her SD Eibar jerseys as part of an online #GoThembiGo campaign which saw some of the country’s biggest celebrities, including actresses Mapaseka Koetle-Nyokong, Lunathi Mampofu, SuperSport anchor Carol Tshabalala and LaLiga joining the campaign to toast the Banyana Banyana superstar on their social media platforms.

LaLiga Southern Africa Managing Director, Marcos Pelegrin, said he was extremely proud of Kgatlana’s achievements in Spain.

“When she moved to Eibar we were all very happy. Now to see her performing at such a high level in one of the toughest leagues in the world, is amazing. She is making us very proud and she is making all of South Africa proud as one of the country’s best ambassadors and footballers in Spain. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with her in helping to profile and develop women’s football in Southern Africa,” said Pelegrin.

This article originally appeared on Super Sport

Photo: Super Sport