 In that first campaign, as Real finished third, Rekarte featured mostly at left back, as habitual starter Agustín Aranzábal suffered a long injury lay-off.Eventually, he also became team captain, only missing one La Liga match in 2002–03 for a final runner-up place.In July 2007, López Rekarte switched to newly promoted UD Almería, but appeared scarcely throughout the season as the Andalusia team overachieved, being subsequently released.