Round-up: Llorente postmatch interviews, "La gabarra de nuestros padres", and the women's derby
¡¡¡ESTAMOS EN LA FINAL!!!
Ahem. Just had to get that out of the way. Anyhow, I'm back with a few more bits and bobs from our teams this week! The highlight, of course, was the 6-2 defeat of Mirandés that puts us through to the final of the Copa del Rey, but the lady-lions deserve a shout-out for their 7-2 thrashing of the Real Sociedad women at the weekend, too!
First up, the two postmatch interviews with Fernando Llorente after beating Mirandés.
1. The on-pitch interview, with Juanma Castaño. This is one for all-time: after 90 minutes and two goals, the Lion King sings the anthem, adding his voice to the roar of San Mamés.
Juanma Castaño: Well, Fernando, what an unforgettable night, right?
Fernando Llorente: The truth is that it’s incredible, no? To make it to a final again, a few years after [the last time], it’s incredible, isn't it? We’re really happy, we knew that we would have to come out with the intensity that we did, that we couldn’t relax - and every time we let down our guard, they scored a goal, and, well. The truth is that we’re really happy.
JC: This is incredible, what we’re hearing right now, isn’t it?
FL: Yes, I think that you can experience this in very few places, but the truth is that it’s spectacular. All of the people who came to see us at the hotel, leaving the hotel, it was spectacular, and marvellous...
JC: Who do you want to beat in the final, Barcelona or Valencia? Tell me the truth, be honest!
FL: What I want is to win it, it’s all the same to me, whichever team it is. The truth is, as you saw the other day, that we had a bad experience with Barcelona, because the truth is that they’re an incredible team, but, well... we’ll fight to the death against whoever!
JC: Do you know the anthem?
FL: Yes.
JC: Go on, let’s hear it!
FL: Zabaldu daigun guztiok irrintzi alaia: Athletic, Athletic, zu zara nagusia!
JC: Very good!
2. In the mixed zone.
Well, tomorrow we’ll calmly watch from home, to see who reaches the final, and, well, whichever of the two reaches the final will be very, very complicated, and we’ll need everything in order to achieve victory.
It’s clear that the experiences against Barcelona haven’t been good at all, and it’s true that you have some desire for revenge, but it’s a little scary, because they are a great team, but I think that this year we’ve played well against them and we’ve been capable of winning against them, even though in the end they equalized, but I think that at this stage we don’t have to be afraid of any team, and in a match - we have to be able to think that we can defeat any team.
Yes, yes, it’s true, seeing the atmosphere today, the madness that we’ve lived through today, it makes me want to stay here my whole life. The truth is that it’s incredible, the affection that we receive here, and I’m very proud of that.
First things first, you have to congratulate the fans for the day that they’ve given us, it’s marvellous to experience a day like today again, from the time we left the hotel it’s been so impressive, the truth is that it really makes your hair stand on end to see the escort they provided for us, and, well, just marvellous, and then on the pitch I think that we went out very strongly from the beginning and knowing what we wanted, looking for that finish, and things went well, we scored three goals pretty quickly, and that got the elimination on the right track.
Next up: the leonas and their whopping 7-2 defeat of La Real on Sunday, which puts them at the top of the Superliga table, along with FC Barcelona Femení. (Original article here.)
Athletic Femenino 7-2 Real Sociedad
It was an excellent day for the Athletic women’s team. The leonas have climbed up to co-leadership in the Superliga thanks to the thrashing that they delivered to Real Sociedad in the derby played this past Sunday at Lezama (7-2), and to the defeat - the first of the season - of FC Barcelona in Vallecas (3-2). With this weekend’s results, the two teams are tied with 55 points at the top of the table, followed at four points by Espanyol, who beat Valencia 3-1. Erika Vázquez, with a hattrick, Guru, Saioa, Eli Ibarra, and Arrate Orueta made a resounding comeback from the 0-1 scored by La Real’s Gaste four minutes into the match.
The happiness was short-lived for the team from Gipuzkoa, since Erika took advantage of an inside pass to challenge Cristina one-on-one and, after dribbling past the visiting goalkeeper, score the equalizer. Seven minutes later, Iraia took a a free-kick from the midfield, Flaviano headed it, and on the far post Guru used the pass to put the rojiblancas ahead on the scoreboard. Despite the final score, the first half was balanced, with much fighting for the ball and with few dangerous chances. In the last minute of the first half, Ibarra took a corner kick, Saioa touched the ball and before it went in, Agoüés was the last player to change the ball’s path.
After halftime, Erika made the most of a counterattack to run down the visitors’ hald and, although Cristina blocked the first shot, the Navarrese forward took advantage of the rebound to score her second goal. With the match decided, Athletic increased their advantage in the 55th minute, and Ibarra’s left-footed shot was good for another goal, this time directly from a free-kick. Three minutes later, Saioa crossed from the left and Orueta, at the far post, sent the ball into the back of Cristina’s net. The seventh and last of the goals was scored by Erika after Nekane led a counterattack and, as the goalkeeper came out, passed to Erika so that she could get the hattrick. La Real’s second goal was the work of Agoüés, from a free-kick.
Last but definitely not least, this awesome article, in which some of our younger players talk about the meaning of the Copa for Athletic.
“Our parents’ gabarra”
Aurtenetxe, Iturraspe, Raúl and Herrera analyze the significance/importance of the Copa to Athletic
The four players from Bizkaia hadn’t been born the last time a title was won, and didn’t play in the 2009 final
The history of Athletic has been written with strokes of victories in the Copa, but it has been 28 years since the rojiblanco ink ceased to continue on its successful path. Since Dani, Goikoetxea, and company followed the orders of Javier Clemente to conquer Athletic’s last titles in 1984, no rojiblanco player has been able to enjoy a barge-parade down the ría of Bilbao in the presence of the fans.
Today, the Athletic squad consists of a litter of insultingly young players. So young, in fact, that their eyes weren’t even in this world to see the Athletic barge plow through the waters of Bilbao. Men like Jon Aurtenetxe, Ander Iturraspe, Raúl Fernández, and Ander Herrera worked every day between the walls of a gym and a hallway decorated with photographs of the last rojiblanco celebration. “Why are we not going to re-live what those older than us have already experienced?”, Iturraspe wonders. Now, history is giving them an opportunity. Only Mirandés and a final stands between them and the barge in the pictures.
LA COPA: A different sort of competition
"A Copa semifinal is something different,” explains Raul. Despite watching the season pass by from the bench, the goalkeeper is experiencing the team’s evolution very intensely. Inside the Lezama training facilities, his mind wanders and he tries to imagine what it means to achieve the things that are captured by the snapshots on the walls. “With all of the pictures that I see in the hall and in the gym, I imagine that it’s something incredible. You ask yourself if it really happened in Bilbao. You’re not conscious of the magnitude that something like that can have. You’re always dreaming of being out on that barge.”
Ander Iturraspe has been surrounded by Athletic’s Copa tradition since childhood: “For the fans and for the whole Bizkaia and Euskadi region, Athletic and the Copa have always gone hand in hand. Personally, having lived my whole life as a fan of Athletic, the Copa is super special. Once you reach the first team you really notice that, that the Copa is important, even more so than a Liga match against Real Madrid.” Herrera, also from Bizkaia, corroborates his words and warns that in the semifinal that gets underway tomorrow, there is much at stake: “We have a semifinal in which not only are we playing for a place in the final, but also for a place in Europe. I, too, walk through that hallway and see the gabarra packed with people. I’d give anything to experience something like that.”
When one is a football professional, lack of enthusiasm can present an obstacle to allowing yourself to dream, but this foursome of players from Bizkaia don’t hide the fact that they allow themselves certain liberties. “Everyone here dreams of one day being on the gabarra,” says Aurtenetxe. Ander Herrera, who is always concerned about keeping his feet on the ground, is also unable to disguise his desires: “To dream, we all dream, not just the fans. We players dream too.”
BORN IN BIZKAIA: Growing up with rojiblanco genes
One hundred percent of the squad is completely devoted to the rojiblanca cause, but having been born in Bizkaia is a factor that can intensify the feelings. "Maybe, ultimately, it’s something that’s more special for the ones from Bizkaia. I have family here, friends... There’s a connection that means that a lot of the people I know are paying attention to Athletic and to the Copa,” explains Raúl. Ander Iturraspe shares his theory: “In the end we are bizkaitarras. It’s clear that the others experience it too, but in the end, having been born and raised in Bizkaia gives us something extra.”
Aurtenetxe, however, has the opposite opinion, that “everyone will go out to win with the same level of desire”. Herrera, for his part, confesses that it wasn’t necessary for them to explain the importance of the Copa when he arrived at Athletic. “I already knew! Athletic has always been close to my heart, I’ve experienced it and followed the club. I already knew what the Copa means for Bilbao, and it’s impressive.”
THE 2009 FINAL: Magic against Sevilla
None of these four players had been born yet when Athletic won their last title, and none of them were on the pitch during the last Copa final, in 2009 against Barcelona. That night was bitter, but before that, there was an historic date: the semifinal match against Sevilla in La Catedral. “I was at San Mamés,” remembers the defender from Amorebieta [Aurtenetxe], “before I made it to the first team I used to go to San Mamés almost every Sunday to see the matches. The one against Sevilla, I was so happy. It was spectacular.” Ander Iturraspe had already started to have contact with the first team, but Joaquín Caparrós left him in the stands that day. “It was insane. We scored the first one and people went crazy. We scored the second one and people just lost it. And the third one was beyond belief. We all went to the palco to celebrate with the fans and it was incredible. At least for me it was unforgettable. It was just amazing.”
Raúl experienced it from a distance but with the same intensity. At the time, he was playing on loan to Conquense, and he enjoyed it in good company: “I was in my flat with Beñat, who’s now at Betis, and Diego Simón, all three of us on loan from Athletic. It was a pretty funny situation. We were shaking like we were at San Mamés. Afterwards we went out to have a drink and celebrate in our own way, and in Cuenca there were Athletic fans celebrating in the streets.”
The final in Valencia left a bitter taste on rojiblanco palates, but everything surrounding the final is something that “you have to experience at least once in your life,” according to Jon Aurtenetxe. Raúl didn’t want to miss it and he travelled with Beñat and Simón from Cuenca to Valencia to watch the match, like three regular fans. “To see the tents with so many people in rojiblanco was unthinkable in Valencia. It looked like a Bilbao invasion,” the goalkeeper recalls.
But Iturraspe drew an even shorter straw, since Joaquín Caparrós, after playing him in five official matches, left him off the list to travel to Valencia. “My story in regards to that final was a little bit strange. Caparrós decided that it would be better for my development if I went back down to Bilbao Athletic [the reserve team]. I didn’t get the chance to travel to the final with the team. Eneko Bóveda, Adrien Goñi, and Iago Herrerín went. It made me really angry. Really angry. But that was the lot I was dealt and at least I was lucky to be able to go there to see the final with friends and family.”
THE DRAW: Pressured from the start?
Athletic faces the final stretch of a competition in which everything has been turned upside down. The first rival, Real Oviedo, was a team from the 2B Division, and the following draw offered a route in which Athletic has only had to face one First Division team, Mallorca, while Real Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, and Valencia saw themselves on the other side of draw. In Bilbao, it was seen as the perfect opportunity to reach a final when there were still three rivals left to eliminate. “After the draw, there was a lot of optimism among the fans and people thought that being in the final was a done deal. We knew that it wasn’t like that, that we would have to work, because if not, we wouldn’t be able to make the dream of the final come true,” Aurtenetxe confides.
While Raúl says that it is “commendable” to not be over-confident about each match, Iturraspe recognizes that the team has in fact felt pressured by the expectations created [by the draw]: “We perceived that pressure. We know very well that it’s a very good opportunity. When Barcelona and Real Madrid drew the other half of the bracket with Sevilla and Valencia, you’re almost forced to be in the final. The people around you, logically, demand more from you, and right now that’s what we’re trying to do.” Herrera, for his part, offers a reminder that they still have not reached the final, although “we do have more pressure than if the rival were Real Madrid. Although I wouldn’t call it pressure, but rather hunger, desire, or ambition.”
MIRANDÉS: The threat of the humble ones
In order to reach the much-awaited final, they must first kick Mirandés out of the Copa - a team which has specialized in neutralizing first-division teams. On everyone’s mind is the desire to replicate the magical environment of that semifinal against Sevilla, with no regard to the fact that the rival is from the 2B Division. “Athletic fans always look to their team regardless of who the rival is,” points out Ander Herrera.
“We know that Mirandés has eliminated three first-division teams,” Aurtenetxe recalls, “and we cannot relax. At the first hint of relaxation, they can complicate this and take this dream away from us.” Raúl is not deceived by appearances and judges Pouso's team by their actions: “I no longer see Mirandés as a team from 2B, I see them as a first-division team. At this point you have to consider them a very tough rival, very difficult, who have eliminated three first-division teams and you have to consider them in that light. It will be really difficult to beat them and I hope that people understand that and know how to support us.”
Ander Iturraspe is confident of the fans’ support: “People are going to turn out as if it were against a first-division team. At least, that’s what we're hoping for in the lockerroom. I don’t have any doubt that that’s how it will be.” It is their great trump card to keep the dream alive, the dream of dusting off the gabarra that our parents saw.
That's all for now, but as you might imagine, all of the increased attention on Athletic means that there's tons more great stuff being written and produced about our leones, and I'll do my best to share as much of it with the comm as possible! Until then - ¡aupa Athletic!
Ahem. Just had to get that out of the way. Anyhow, I'm back with a few more bits and bobs from our teams this week! The highlight, of course, was the 6-2 defeat of Mirandés that puts us through to the final of the Copa del Rey, but the lady-lions deserve a shout-out for their 7-2 thrashing of the Real Sociedad women at the weekend, too!
First up, the two postmatch interviews with Fernando Llorente after beating Mirandés.
1. The on-pitch interview, with Juanma Castaño. This is one for all-time: after 90 minutes and two goals, the Lion King sings the anthem, adding his voice to the roar of San Mamés.
Juanma Castaño: Well, Fernando, what an unforgettable night, right?
Fernando Llorente: The truth is that it’s incredible, no? To make it to a final again, a few years after [the last time], it’s incredible, isn't it? We’re really happy, we knew that we would have to come out with the intensity that we did, that we couldn’t relax - and every time we let down our guard, they scored a goal, and, well. The truth is that we’re really happy.
JC: This is incredible, what we’re hearing right now, isn’t it?
FL: Yes, I think that you can experience this in very few places, but the truth is that it’s spectacular. All of the people who came to see us at the hotel, leaving the hotel, it was spectacular, and marvellous...
JC: Who do you want to beat in the final, Barcelona or Valencia? Tell me the truth, be honest!
FL: What I want is to win it, it’s all the same to me, whichever team it is. The truth is, as you saw the other day, that we had a bad experience with Barcelona, because the truth is that they’re an incredible team, but, well... we’ll fight to the death against whoever!
JC: Do you know the anthem?
FL: Yes.
JC: Go on, let’s hear it!
FL: Zabaldu daigun guztiok irrintzi alaia: Athletic, Athletic, zu zara nagusia!
JC: Very good!
2. In the mixed zone.
Well, tomorrow we’ll calmly watch from home, to see who reaches the final, and, well, whichever of the two reaches the final will be very, very complicated, and we’ll need everything in order to achieve victory.
It’s clear that the experiences against Barcelona haven’t been good at all, and it’s true that you have some desire for revenge, but it’s a little scary, because they are a great team, but I think that this year we’ve played well against them and we’ve been capable of winning against them, even though in the end they equalized, but I think that at this stage we don’t have to be afraid of any team, and in a match - we have to be able to think that we can defeat any team.
Yes, yes, it’s true, seeing the atmosphere today, the madness that we’ve lived through today, it makes me want to stay here my whole life. The truth is that it’s incredible, the affection that we receive here, and I’m very proud of that.
First things first, you have to congratulate the fans for the day that they’ve given us, it’s marvellous to experience a day like today again, from the time we left the hotel it’s been so impressive, the truth is that it really makes your hair stand on end to see the escort they provided for us, and, well, just marvellous, and then on the pitch I think that we went out very strongly from the beginning and knowing what we wanted, looking for that finish, and things went well, we scored three goals pretty quickly, and that got the elimination on the right track.
Next up: the leonas and their whopping 7-2 defeat of La Real on Sunday, which puts them at the top of the Superliga table, along with FC Barcelona Femení. (Original article here.)
Athletic Femenino 7-2 Real Sociedad
It was an excellent day for the Athletic women’s team. The leonas have climbed up to co-leadership in the Superliga thanks to the thrashing that they delivered to Real Sociedad in the derby played this past Sunday at Lezama (7-2), and to the defeat - the first of the season - of FC Barcelona in Vallecas (3-2). With this weekend’s results, the two teams are tied with 55 points at the top of the table, followed at four points by Espanyol, who beat Valencia 3-1. Erika Vázquez, with a hattrick, Guru, Saioa, Eli Ibarra, and Arrate Orueta made a resounding comeback from the 0-1 scored by La Real’s Gaste four minutes into the match.
The happiness was short-lived for the team from Gipuzkoa, since Erika took advantage of an inside pass to challenge Cristina one-on-one and, after dribbling past the visiting goalkeeper, score the equalizer. Seven minutes later, Iraia took a a free-kick from the midfield, Flaviano headed it, and on the far post Guru used the pass to put the rojiblancas ahead on the scoreboard. Despite the final score, the first half was balanced, with much fighting for the ball and with few dangerous chances. In the last minute of the first half, Ibarra took a corner kick, Saioa touched the ball and before it went in, Agoüés was the last player to change the ball’s path.
After halftime, Erika made the most of a counterattack to run down the visitors’ hald and, although Cristina blocked the first shot, the Navarrese forward took advantage of the rebound to score her second goal. With the match decided, Athletic increased their advantage in the 55th minute, and Ibarra’s left-footed shot was good for another goal, this time directly from a free-kick. Three minutes later, Saioa crossed from the left and Orueta, at the far post, sent the ball into the back of Cristina’s net. The seventh and last of the goals was scored by Erika after Nekane led a counterattack and, as the goalkeeper came out, passed to Erika so that she could get the hattrick. La Real’s second goal was the work of Agoüés, from a free-kick.
Last but definitely not least, this awesome article, in which some of our younger players talk about the meaning of the Copa for Athletic.
“Our parents’ gabarra”
Aurtenetxe, Iturraspe, Raúl and Herrera analyze the significance/importance of the Copa to Athletic
The four players from Bizkaia hadn’t been born the last time a title was won, and didn’t play in the 2009 final
The history of Athletic has been written with strokes of victories in the Copa, but it has been 28 years since the rojiblanco ink ceased to continue on its successful path. Since Dani, Goikoetxea, and company followed the orders of Javier Clemente to conquer Athletic’s last titles in 1984, no rojiblanco player has been able to enjoy a barge-parade down the ría of Bilbao in the presence of the fans.
Today, the Athletic squad consists of a litter of insultingly young players. So young, in fact, that their eyes weren’t even in this world to see the Athletic barge plow through the waters of Bilbao. Men like Jon Aurtenetxe, Ander Iturraspe, Raúl Fernández, and Ander Herrera worked every day between the walls of a gym and a hallway decorated with photographs of the last rojiblanco celebration. “Why are we not going to re-live what those older than us have already experienced?”, Iturraspe wonders. Now, history is giving them an opportunity. Only Mirandés and a final stands between them and the barge in the pictures.
LA COPA: A different sort of competition
"A Copa semifinal is something different,” explains Raul. Despite watching the season pass by from the bench, the goalkeeper is experiencing the team’s evolution very intensely. Inside the Lezama training facilities, his mind wanders and he tries to imagine what it means to achieve the things that are captured by the snapshots on the walls. “With all of the pictures that I see in the hall and in the gym, I imagine that it’s something incredible. You ask yourself if it really happened in Bilbao. You’re not conscious of the magnitude that something like that can have. You’re always dreaming of being out on that barge.”
Ander Iturraspe has been surrounded by Athletic’s Copa tradition since childhood: “For the fans and for the whole Bizkaia and Euskadi region, Athletic and the Copa have always gone hand in hand. Personally, having lived my whole life as a fan of Athletic, the Copa is super special. Once you reach the first team you really notice that, that the Copa is important, even more so than a Liga match against Real Madrid.” Herrera, also from Bizkaia, corroborates his words and warns that in the semifinal that gets underway tomorrow, there is much at stake: “We have a semifinal in which not only are we playing for a place in the final, but also for a place in Europe. I, too, walk through that hallway and see the gabarra packed with people. I’d give anything to experience something like that.”
When one is a football professional, lack of enthusiasm can present an obstacle to allowing yourself to dream, but this foursome of players from Bizkaia don’t hide the fact that they allow themselves certain liberties. “Everyone here dreams of one day being on the gabarra,” says Aurtenetxe. Ander Herrera, who is always concerned about keeping his feet on the ground, is also unable to disguise his desires: “To dream, we all dream, not just the fans. We players dream too.”
BORN IN BIZKAIA: Growing up with rojiblanco genes
One hundred percent of the squad is completely devoted to the rojiblanca cause, but having been born in Bizkaia is a factor that can intensify the feelings. "Maybe, ultimately, it’s something that’s more special for the ones from Bizkaia. I have family here, friends... There’s a connection that means that a lot of the people I know are paying attention to Athletic and to the Copa,” explains Raúl. Ander Iturraspe shares his theory: “In the end we are bizkaitarras. It’s clear that the others experience it too, but in the end, having been born and raised in Bizkaia gives us something extra.”
Aurtenetxe, however, has the opposite opinion, that “everyone will go out to win with the same level of desire”. Herrera, for his part, confesses that it wasn’t necessary for them to explain the importance of the Copa when he arrived at Athletic. “I already knew! Athletic has always been close to my heart, I’ve experienced it and followed the club. I already knew what the Copa means for Bilbao, and it’s impressive.”
THE 2009 FINAL: Magic against Sevilla
None of these four players had been born yet when Athletic won their last title, and none of them were on the pitch during the last Copa final, in 2009 against Barcelona. That night was bitter, but before that, there was an historic date: the semifinal match against Sevilla in La Catedral. “I was at San Mamés,” remembers the defender from Amorebieta [Aurtenetxe], “before I made it to the first team I used to go to San Mamés almost every Sunday to see the matches. The one against Sevilla, I was so happy. It was spectacular.” Ander Iturraspe had already started to have contact with the first team, but Joaquín Caparrós left him in the stands that day. “It was insane. We scored the first one and people went crazy. We scored the second one and people just lost it. And the third one was beyond belief. We all went to the palco to celebrate with the fans and it was incredible. At least for me it was unforgettable. It was just amazing.”
Raúl experienced it from a distance but with the same intensity. At the time, he was playing on loan to Conquense, and he enjoyed it in good company: “I was in my flat with Beñat, who’s now at Betis, and Diego Simón, all three of us on loan from Athletic. It was a pretty funny situation. We were shaking like we were at San Mamés. Afterwards we went out to have a drink and celebrate in our own way, and in Cuenca there were Athletic fans celebrating in the streets.”
The final in Valencia left a bitter taste on rojiblanco palates, but everything surrounding the final is something that “you have to experience at least once in your life,” according to Jon Aurtenetxe. Raúl didn’t want to miss it and he travelled with Beñat and Simón from Cuenca to Valencia to watch the match, like three regular fans. “To see the tents with so many people in rojiblanco was unthinkable in Valencia. It looked like a Bilbao invasion,” the goalkeeper recalls.
But Iturraspe drew an even shorter straw, since Joaquín Caparrós, after playing him in five official matches, left him off the list to travel to Valencia. “My story in regards to that final was a little bit strange. Caparrós decided that it would be better for my development if I went back down to Bilbao Athletic [the reserve team]. I didn’t get the chance to travel to the final with the team. Eneko Bóveda, Adrien Goñi, and Iago Herrerín went. It made me really angry. Really angry. But that was the lot I was dealt and at least I was lucky to be able to go there to see the final with friends and family.”
THE DRAW: Pressured from the start?
Athletic faces the final stretch of a competition in which everything has been turned upside down. The first rival, Real Oviedo, was a team from the 2B Division, and the following draw offered a route in which Athletic has only had to face one First Division team, Mallorca, while Real Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, and Valencia saw themselves on the other side of draw. In Bilbao, it was seen as the perfect opportunity to reach a final when there were still three rivals left to eliminate. “After the draw, there was a lot of optimism among the fans and people thought that being in the final was a done deal. We knew that it wasn’t like that, that we would have to work, because if not, we wouldn’t be able to make the dream of the final come true,” Aurtenetxe confides.
While Raúl says that it is “commendable” to not be over-confident about each match, Iturraspe recognizes that the team has in fact felt pressured by the expectations created [by the draw]: “We perceived that pressure. We know very well that it’s a very good opportunity. When Barcelona and Real Madrid drew the other half of the bracket with Sevilla and Valencia, you’re almost forced to be in the final. The people around you, logically, demand more from you, and right now that’s what we’re trying to do.” Herrera, for his part, offers a reminder that they still have not reached the final, although “we do have more pressure than if the rival were Real Madrid. Although I wouldn’t call it pressure, but rather hunger, desire, or ambition.”
MIRANDÉS: The threat of the humble ones
In order to reach the much-awaited final, they must first kick Mirandés out of the Copa - a team which has specialized in neutralizing first-division teams. On everyone’s mind is the desire to replicate the magical environment of that semifinal against Sevilla, with no regard to the fact that the rival is from the 2B Division. “Athletic fans always look to their team regardless of who the rival is,” points out Ander Herrera.
“We know that Mirandés has eliminated three first-division teams,” Aurtenetxe recalls, “and we cannot relax. At the first hint of relaxation, they can complicate this and take this dream away from us.” Raúl is not deceived by appearances and judges Pouso's team by their actions: “I no longer see Mirandés as a team from 2B, I see them as a first-division team. At this point you have to consider them a very tough rival, very difficult, who have eliminated three first-division teams and you have to consider them in that light. It will be really difficult to beat them and I hope that people understand that and know how to support us.”
Ander Iturraspe is confident of the fans’ support: “People are going to turn out as if it were against a first-division team. At least, that’s what we're hoping for in the lockerroom. I don’t have any doubt that that’s how it will be.” It is their great trump card to keep the dream alive, the dream of dusting off the gabarra that our parents saw.
That's all for now, but as you might imagine, all of the increased attention on Athletic means that there's tons more great stuff being written and produced about our leones, and I'll do my best to share as much of it with the comm as possible! Until then - ¡aupa Athletic!