Una cuadrilla del Athletic
So, this article is REALLY old - it's from last summer, before the U21 European Championships - but I stumbled across it while trying to organize the random crap in my inbox, and I thought it might be of interest, especially as there are a few funny moments (not that this is unusual for our boys, of course!).
An Athletic Squad: Javi Martínez, San José, Muniain, and Herrera Make a Case for the Rojiblancos at the Gates of the European Under-21 Championship
“MUNIAIN! Muniain! Muniaiiiiiiiiiiiin!". A group of rowdy teenagers spends the whole training session cheering and demanding the attention of their idols, who are working on the pitch, oblivious to the activity in the stands. The Spanish under-21 national team is holed up in the Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas, with their sights fixed on the European Championship which will be played in Denmark starting on June 11. Among those called up by Luis Milla are four leones: Iker Muniain, Javi Martínez, Mikel San José, and the club’s newest signing, Ander Herrera. DEIA spoke to them in an interview not devoid of incidents, which didn’t involve the four players, who tried the whole time to work out a solution to the obstacles for which they were not responsible. The Spanish Football Federation did not allow the boys to pose for the photo with the red-and-white Athletic shirt, the one they play in on a daily basis, the one that has brought them to the under-21 team. “They are here with the national team. They have to wear the shirt of the national team.” The players are willing to put on the Athletic shirt, but it is not to be. The press officers insist strongly on the ban. These are the rules...
The interview begins. They laugh. They joke while they pose, while they chat, with the affinity of teammates, a group of friends. Polite and prudent, they don’t want to talk about anything related to the Athletic elections. “I believe that we have to remain on the sidelines. The thing that concerns us is the European Championship,” Javi Martínez concludes firmly. “Well, the economic strength [of the club] and my signing have been credited to Macua, but it’s something that I have to stand apart from; I’m grateful to the current president and we’ll see what happens,” Ander Herrera limits himself to adding.
After five minutes the conversation is cut short. The press office is putting pressure on us. It’s time to eat. Non-negotiable. It seems as though the interview is going to come to nothing. My hand tenses on the recorder. But Herrera looks at his three teammates. “It’s okay. We’ll continue after we eat.” The rest are in agreement. A tremendous relief. Barely three-quarters of an hour later, the four of them appear in the lobby of the residence. The word of a león is the word of a león. True gentlemen. I press REC[ord] once more.
Mikel San José: It’s an honor to be on the under-21. The more Athletic players there are, the better. It means that we’re doing things well. We will try to do well and return home happy.
Iker Muniain: It’s an enormous dream for us and for the club, that they’re counting on us for the under-21 national team, with four players. It means that the work that’s been done [at Athletic] has been done well. I hope that we can continue as we have up until now.
Javi Martínez: Yes, it’s a reward. To have players on the national team, whether it’s the senior team or the under-21s, whichever. It’s like you guys said, that we’re doing our work well. It does reward individual work but it also rewards the work of the group, and it does justice to what we’ve done.
Ander Herrera: I believe that always contributing the greatest [possible] number of footballers to the national team is a wonderful thing for the club because it means that we’re doing things well, that the level of the club is very high, and I think it’s a point of pride for everyone.
M. S. J.: Now the míster is telling us to enjoy ourselves above all, that we should forget about whatever happens outside of here, that we should concentrate on enjoying this opportunity, because if we do, we’ll get far. What’s clear is that our main objective has to be qualifying for the Olympic Games, and in order to do that, we’re going to work as hard as we can.
I. M.: On a national team like this, the goal is always to win, to be champions. Then there can be lots of other circumstances, fighting for other things, but the primary objective is to be champions and to qualify for the Olympic Games.
J. M.: I think the same thing as the others...
A. H.: Being the national team and having the senior team as a reference and a mirror, we have to aspire to the biggest prize. Always respecting our rivals, because if they’ve made it to the European Championships, there’s a reason for it, because there have been teams like France, like Holland, like Italy, which have been eliminated and which are also very powerful. We aspire to win the whole thing, and then it’s clear that we have the Olympics in London, which is a wonderful goal to have.
Muniain might be called up for the under-20 [World Cup], Javi Martínez has had a very intense year, including the World Cup in South Africa... Don’t you fear that this might affect your performance with Athletic?
J. M.: Well, we hope to have a few days of vacation. When the European Championships end, we’ll speak to whichever president, whichever coach, to arrange a few days of vacation because it’s true that after so much time, so much training, and so many matches, it takes a toll on your body. Hopefully it will all go well for us and we can have some well-deserved vacations.
I. M.: You dropped that hint really well! (Laughter.) Yes, it’s true. Next up is the under-20 World Cup, and the most likely thing is that I’ll go. Let’s hope that the club gives us some rest-days because this season is also going to be very long, with three competitions, and we’re going to need the rest.
In the training camp, are you guys rooming together? What’s the atmosphere like in the locker room? I suppose that being in training, you probably miss your families...
J. M.: No, we’re not rooming together, we’re with other players. I’m with [Juan] Mata, Herrera with José Ángel [Cote], Mikel with [Álvaro] Domínguez, and Iker with Bojan.
A. H.: We’re young people who’ve come here to create a good atmosphere, to try to achieve the greatest success possible but above all to enjoy ourselves from day to day, because we have a really great opportunity and we have to enjoy it.
I. M.: When we leave our club, here we are all a team. We’ve all been together a long time and the truth is that there’s a fantastic atmosphere.
J. M.: It’s really the key to success. If there’s no group, there’s no success.
A. H.: In the training camps, you miss your friends, your family, and, for some of them, the wife. [Jokingly!] The good thing that we have and what makes it so that we don’t really miss the outside, is that we are also friends with each other, we enjoy the day-to-day stuff and we laugh a lot, which is key.
I. M.: I agree! What I miss most is my mother’s cooking!
M. S. J.: And in my case, I miss my girlfriend, too... You miss the things that you’ve left back at home, but that’s not to take anything away from these guys, because it’s worth it.
J. M.: I miss my family and my friends, but since they’re also my friends... (he points at his teammates).
Iker Muniain, Javi Martínez, and Ander Herrera are very well known for their Twitter accounts. What is the importance of social networks?
A. H.: I think that it’s important, the matter of having contact with people. Ultimately we’re footballers and we live on the hope that we awaken in [fans]. Twitter is a way of being closer to them, so that they can see that we’re not out of reach or anything like that, but completely to the contrary. We’re normal boys, we laugh among ourselves, we joke with each other.
I. M.: Yes, it’s a little bit about that, of getting closer to the people who follow you and who admire you, to put it that way. So that they can also see that we’re just teenage boys, normal, like anyone else.
J. M.: We’re just normal people and as such, we have normal hobbies. Twitter is a really widespread phenomenon, and it helps us to be in touch with the people who follow us.
I. M.: Well, I wanted to remind you that I’m the one with the most followers of the three of is. (Everyone bursts out laughing.) Just putting that out there!
M. S. J.: I’m not so good with social networks...
J. M.: He’s incompatible with technology.
A. H.: He likes the txapela a lot more...
J. M.: … and chopping trees! (All four break into laughter.)
M. S. J.: The truth is that I have Tuenti to talk to my friends but with that, it’s more than enough!
How would you like the Athletic of the future to be?
A. H.: I’d like it to have a title of some sort. In a big club, with the fans that it has, with the social mass which goes along with it, a title would be really important. Above all because it’s a club with a lot of titles and it’s been a while since we’ve won anything. I’m so happy to be able to enjoy these teammates and people that I’ll be able to learn from, like Llorente, Iraola, Gurpegui, Orbaiz, who are footballers who’ve been in the First Division for many years and who will surely make me better.
I. M.: Yes, the club is creating a really exciting project with young people, and we hope for the good of all that things turn out well and hopefully one day we’ll win a title. That would be the bomb!
J. M.: I see Athletic maintaining the upward trend that we have going, which is making us progress so much, on the club level, on the individual level, everything. I think that the foundation has been laid, we have a great team.
M. S. J.: More than anything else, Athletic has a very hopeful future. Not only with the four players, the four of us who are here with the under-21s now, but also with Fernando, Iraola, who are on the national team that are world champions... Right now there are other players who are making a big impact and their work can be seen in the fact that they’ve been called to the national team. I believe there’s a lot of players with a log of quality, who fight every day to make Athletic great.
The teenagers who were in the stands never stopped shouting at you guys. Doesn’t that distract you? Muniain, the youngest one on the pitch, was one of the ones they shouted for most.
I. M.: Me? Me? Me? Well... Football is eleven-against-eleven, there’s no such thing as a small rival, every match is a world... (Everyone laughs).
A. H.: Those are canned answers... (Ander clarifies, just in case there was any doubt.)
I. M.: It’s normal that young kids focus on us, because of the fact that we’re young, too. It’s normal that kids look at us and want to learn, just like we do with older players.
M. S. J.: But that doesn’t mess with our concentration! If you get distracted by twenty boys watching you train, imagine what it would be like with 40,000 people at a match...
I. M.: I do pretty well with being so young. I’m used to playing against older people. It’s the same as always: it doesn’t matter who you play, the important thing is to do it well.
A. H.: I can tell you that Iker has a legendary phrase: “Estomos aquí porque semos...” [This means “we’re here because we are...” but in the Spanish original, it’s funny because Iker says it wrong - it should be “estamos aquí porque somos”.] It was a press conference that he gave, a disaster.. we laughed about it... (Laughter from all four.)
Ander Herrera is one of the newest members of Athletic. How are you facing the stage that begins now?
A. H.: With a lot of hope. Athletic has made an important investment in me, and that, more than weighing me down with pressure, fills me with motivation, with hope, with the desire to give something back to the people who have raised so much hope. I’m also conscious of the fact that I’m going to a team that has world champions, as in the case of Javi or Fernando Llorente, a team that has footballers who have played many, many more matches in the First Division than I have. Put I want to learn as much as possible from them, to immerse myself in everything Athletic as soon as possible, which I’m sure I will do very quickly with the help of my friends. It can all be summed up in hope and the desire to do well.
What differences do you see between Zaragoza and Athletic?
A. H.: I haven’t yet had the opportunity to play for Athletic. I’ve been at Zaragoza for eleven years. I’m very proud to have defended that shirt, to have played for so many years at that club, and I’ll always have it in my heart. But I’m going to a very great club which I’m sure will receive me phenomenally well, and from which I’ll be able to learn a lot, to grow as a footballer. In three or four months I’ll be able to answer that question about the differences between the two clubs.
As usual, they're at their best when they're joking around and poking fun at each other, but I do love the way they talk about Athletic and their teammates, too! Our boys are pure class.
An Athletic Squad: Javi Martínez, San José, Muniain, and Herrera Make a Case for the Rojiblancos at the Gates of the European Under-21 Championship
“MUNIAIN! Muniain! Muniaiiiiiiiiiiiin!". A group of rowdy teenagers spends the whole training session cheering and demanding the attention of their idols, who are working on the pitch, oblivious to the activity in the stands. The Spanish under-21 national team is holed up in the Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas, with their sights fixed on the European Championship which will be played in Denmark starting on June 11. Among those called up by Luis Milla are four leones: Iker Muniain, Javi Martínez, Mikel San José, and the club’s newest signing, Ander Herrera. DEIA spoke to them in an interview not devoid of incidents, which didn’t involve the four players, who tried the whole time to work out a solution to the obstacles for which they were not responsible. The Spanish Football Federation did not allow the boys to pose for the photo with the red-and-white Athletic shirt, the one they play in on a daily basis, the one that has brought them to the under-21 team. “They are here with the national team. They have to wear the shirt of the national team.” The players are willing to put on the Athletic shirt, but it is not to be. The press officers insist strongly on the ban. These are the rules...
The interview begins. They laugh. They joke while they pose, while they chat, with the affinity of teammates, a group of friends. Polite and prudent, they don’t want to talk about anything related to the Athletic elections. “I believe that we have to remain on the sidelines. The thing that concerns us is the European Championship,” Javi Martínez concludes firmly. “Well, the economic strength [of the club] and my signing have been credited to Macua, but it’s something that I have to stand apart from; I’m grateful to the current president and we’ll see what happens,” Ander Herrera limits himself to adding.
After five minutes the conversation is cut short. The press office is putting pressure on us. It’s time to eat. Non-negotiable. It seems as though the interview is going to come to nothing. My hand tenses on the recorder. But Herrera looks at his three teammates. “It’s okay. We’ll continue after we eat.” The rest are in agreement. A tremendous relief. Barely three-quarters of an hour later, the four of them appear in the lobby of the residence. The word of a león is the word of a león. True gentlemen. I press REC[ord] once more.
Mikel San José: It’s an honor to be on the under-21. The more Athletic players there are, the better. It means that we’re doing things well. We will try to do well and return home happy.
Iker Muniain: It’s an enormous dream for us and for the club, that they’re counting on us for the under-21 national team, with four players. It means that the work that’s been done [at Athletic] has been done well. I hope that we can continue as we have up until now.
Javi Martínez: Yes, it’s a reward. To have players on the national team, whether it’s the senior team or the under-21s, whichever. It’s like you guys said, that we’re doing our work well. It does reward individual work but it also rewards the work of the group, and it does justice to what we’ve done.
Ander Herrera: I believe that always contributing the greatest [possible] number of footballers to the national team is a wonderful thing for the club because it means that we’re doing things well, that the level of the club is very high, and I think it’s a point of pride for everyone.
M. S. J.: Now the míster is telling us to enjoy ourselves above all, that we should forget about whatever happens outside of here, that we should concentrate on enjoying this opportunity, because if we do, we’ll get far. What’s clear is that our main objective has to be qualifying for the Olympic Games, and in order to do that, we’re going to work as hard as we can.
I. M.: On a national team like this, the goal is always to win, to be champions. Then there can be lots of other circumstances, fighting for other things, but the primary objective is to be champions and to qualify for the Olympic Games.
J. M.: I think the same thing as the others...
A. H.: Being the national team and having the senior team as a reference and a mirror, we have to aspire to the biggest prize. Always respecting our rivals, because if they’ve made it to the European Championships, there’s a reason for it, because there have been teams like France, like Holland, like Italy, which have been eliminated and which are also very powerful. We aspire to win the whole thing, and then it’s clear that we have the Olympics in London, which is a wonderful goal to have.
Muniain might be called up for the under-20 [World Cup], Javi Martínez has had a very intense year, including the World Cup in South Africa... Don’t you fear that this might affect your performance with Athletic?
J. M.: Well, we hope to have a few days of vacation. When the European Championships end, we’ll speak to whichever president, whichever coach, to arrange a few days of vacation because it’s true that after so much time, so much training, and so many matches, it takes a toll on your body. Hopefully it will all go well for us and we can have some well-deserved vacations.
I. M.: You dropped that hint really well! (Laughter.) Yes, it’s true. Next up is the under-20 World Cup, and the most likely thing is that I’ll go. Let’s hope that the club gives us some rest-days because this season is also going to be very long, with three competitions, and we’re going to need the rest.
In the training camp, are you guys rooming together? What’s the atmosphere like in the locker room? I suppose that being in training, you probably miss your families...
J. M.: No, we’re not rooming together, we’re with other players. I’m with [Juan] Mata, Herrera with José Ángel [Cote], Mikel with [Álvaro] Domínguez, and Iker with Bojan.
A. H.: We’re young people who’ve come here to create a good atmosphere, to try to achieve the greatest success possible but above all to enjoy ourselves from day to day, because we have a really great opportunity and we have to enjoy it.
I. M.: When we leave our club, here we are all a team. We’ve all been together a long time and the truth is that there’s a fantastic atmosphere.
J. M.: It’s really the key to success. If there’s no group, there’s no success.
A. H.: In the training camps, you miss your friends, your family, and, for some of them, the wife. [Jokingly!] The good thing that we have and what makes it so that we don’t really miss the outside, is that we are also friends with each other, we enjoy the day-to-day stuff and we laugh a lot, which is key.
I. M.: I agree! What I miss most is my mother’s cooking!
M. S. J.: And in my case, I miss my girlfriend, too... You miss the things that you’ve left back at home, but that’s not to take anything away from these guys, because it’s worth it.
J. M.: I miss my family and my friends, but since they’re also my friends... (he points at his teammates).
Iker Muniain, Javi Martínez, and Ander Herrera are very well known for their Twitter accounts. What is the importance of social networks?
A. H.: I think that it’s important, the matter of having contact with people. Ultimately we’re footballers and we live on the hope that we awaken in [fans]. Twitter is a way of being closer to them, so that they can see that we’re not out of reach or anything like that, but completely to the contrary. We’re normal boys, we laugh among ourselves, we joke with each other.
I. M.: Yes, it’s a little bit about that, of getting closer to the people who follow you and who admire you, to put it that way. So that they can also see that we’re just teenage boys, normal, like anyone else.
J. M.: We’re just normal people and as such, we have normal hobbies. Twitter is a really widespread phenomenon, and it helps us to be in touch with the people who follow us.
I. M.: Well, I wanted to remind you that I’m the one with the most followers of the three of is. (Everyone bursts out laughing.) Just putting that out there!
M. S. J.: I’m not so good with social networks...
J. M.: He’s incompatible with technology.
A. H.: He likes the txapela a lot more...
J. M.: … and chopping trees! (All four break into laughter.)
M. S. J.: The truth is that I have Tuenti to talk to my friends but with that, it’s more than enough!
How would you like the Athletic of the future to be?
A. H.: I’d like it to have a title of some sort. In a big club, with the fans that it has, with the social mass which goes along with it, a title would be really important. Above all because it’s a club with a lot of titles and it’s been a while since we’ve won anything. I’m so happy to be able to enjoy these teammates and people that I’ll be able to learn from, like Llorente, Iraola, Gurpegui, Orbaiz, who are footballers who’ve been in the First Division for many years and who will surely make me better.
I. M.: Yes, the club is creating a really exciting project with young people, and we hope for the good of all that things turn out well and hopefully one day we’ll win a title. That would be the bomb!
J. M.: I see Athletic maintaining the upward trend that we have going, which is making us progress so much, on the club level, on the individual level, everything. I think that the foundation has been laid, we have a great team.
M. S. J.: More than anything else, Athletic has a very hopeful future. Not only with the four players, the four of us who are here with the under-21s now, but also with Fernando, Iraola, who are on the national team that are world champions... Right now there are other players who are making a big impact and their work can be seen in the fact that they’ve been called to the national team. I believe there’s a lot of players with a log of quality, who fight every day to make Athletic great.
The teenagers who were in the stands never stopped shouting at you guys. Doesn’t that distract you? Muniain, the youngest one on the pitch, was one of the ones they shouted for most.
I. M.: Me? Me? Me? Well... Football is eleven-against-eleven, there’s no such thing as a small rival, every match is a world... (Everyone laughs).
A. H.: Those are canned answers... (Ander clarifies, just in case there was any doubt.)
I. M.: It’s normal that young kids focus on us, because of the fact that we’re young, too. It’s normal that kids look at us and want to learn, just like we do with older players.
M. S. J.: But that doesn’t mess with our concentration! If you get distracted by twenty boys watching you train, imagine what it would be like with 40,000 people at a match...
I. M.: I do pretty well with being so young. I’m used to playing against older people. It’s the same as always: it doesn’t matter who you play, the important thing is to do it well.
A. H.: I can tell you that Iker has a legendary phrase: “Estomos aquí porque semos...” [This means “we’re here because we are...” but in the Spanish original, it’s funny because Iker says it wrong - it should be “estamos aquí porque somos”.] It was a press conference that he gave, a disaster.. we laughed about it... (Laughter from all four.)
Ander Herrera is one of the newest members of Athletic. How are you facing the stage that begins now?
A. H.: With a lot of hope. Athletic has made an important investment in me, and that, more than weighing me down with pressure, fills me with motivation, with hope, with the desire to give something back to the people who have raised so much hope. I’m also conscious of the fact that I’m going to a team that has world champions, as in the case of Javi or Fernando Llorente, a team that has footballers who have played many, many more matches in the First Division than I have. Put I want to learn as much as possible from them, to immerse myself in everything Athletic as soon as possible, which I’m sure I will do very quickly with the help of my friends. It can all be summed up in hope and the desire to do well.
What differences do you see between Zaragoza and Athletic?
A. H.: I haven’t yet had the opportunity to play for Athletic. I’ve been at Zaragoza for eleven years. I’m very proud to have defended that shirt, to have played for so many years at that club, and I’ll always have it in my heart. But I’m going to a very great club which I’m sure will receive me phenomenally well, and from which I’ll be able to learn a lot, to grow as a footballer. In three or four months I’ll be able to answer that question about the differences between the two clubs.
As usual, they're at their best when they're joking around and poking fun at each other, but I do love the way they talk about Athletic and their teammates, too! Our boys are pure class.