Imanol Alguacil’s side look set for the Champions League after beating Madrid, with thanks owed to one player in particularA little after the clock struck 12 on the night when David Silva, 37, ran 10 kilometres, completed more passes, won more possession, made more tackles, created more chances and provided more assists than anyone else; the delirious, noisy night when everybody bounced about and he led his team – the fifth of a career that began 19 years ago and isn’t ending any time soon – to victory over the European champions and the cusp of a Champions League place for the first time in a decade, his manager was asked what exactly they were giving him up in San...
Having lost a club legend in ‘Mauri’ two days previous, Athletic’s 4-0 demolition of Real Sociedad felt like a fitting tributeEleven villagers were enough to bring down a giant, so it goes. On the day the 1958 World Cup final was played in Solna, another game took place 2,200 miles south, which wasn’t where they wanted it but that made it better in the end.Athletic Club de Bilbao – Atlético then, by dictatorial decree – had requested the final of the Copa del Generalísimo be held in a neutral city, but the Generalísimo wasn’t going anywhere which meant that nor were they. At best, they were told, Spain’s showpiece game could be moved to the Metropolitano so they said let’s...
The manager made headlines for switching to ‘fan mode’ after winning the Copa del Rey having endured all the lean times“If you’ll allow me,” Imanol Alguacil said, as if there was anything they wouldn’t allow him any more. He was one of them after all, the communion about to be made very loud and very clear. He had also just done what no one had done for 34 years and only two men had done before; what no man had done, in fact. It was after midnight on Saturday and Alguacil had just led Real Sociedad to their first major trophy since 1987, back before even he was at the club, and the fourth in their history, securing victory in...
Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao’s delayed Copa del Rey final will be an historic occasion – even without any fans to witness itThey have waited a long time for this, just not for it to be like this. Saturday night’s Copa del Rey final between Real Sociedad and Athletic Club, the Basque derby staged almost 1,000km south in Seville, should have been played 12 months ago. Instead, it was postponed by the pandemic and a decision that defines these two historic representatives of a unique place, a country: together, they refused to play without their people. But it’s not that, or not only that.It’s not just that this match, the match, will take place a season late and, with supporters...
In their short spells with Real Sociedad three players left an indelible mark, as former teammates recallThe day John Aldridge turned up at Real Sociedad’s Zubieta training ground in September 1989, he was confronted by graffiti saying foreigners weren’t welcome. A year on, he had been so good that they welcomed two more of them, this time with open arms. For almost 30 years, la Real didn’t have a player from outside the Basque Country; now they had three, and all from Britain and Ireland.They were in San Sebastián together for only a season and not even a particularly good one, la Real finishing 1990-91 in their lowest position since returning to the first division 22 years earlier, but Aldridge,...