Ernesto Valverde accepted his dismissal from Barça with astonishing serenity. Who can forget that image of the coach from Cáceres driving down the Camp Nou exit ramp with a smile on a liberated face. He left as he arrived at the Barça volcano: without uttering one word louder than another, without raising storms in the course of events. Txingurri left behind two League titles in Barcelona, although the deep wounds suffered in Rome, first, and Liverpool, later, added to the defeat in the Super Cup against Athletic itself, hammered the last nails in his coffin; The culé idiosyncrasy, still unaware of the storm that would soon arrive, demanded only excellence without realizing that it had to be deserved. Valverde was over the second half of his fifties, he had nothing left to experience in the raw world of elite sport, he carried hundreds of games in his life backpack and his future on the bench seemed to have a short-term end. Furthermore, it was 2020, the beginning of sweetened pandemic football, do you remember the artificial stands of the League?, and after a Barça dismissal, the drop is usually pronounced. Rijkaard, Setién or Koeman, for example, confirm this. However, displaying the genuine naturalness that defines him, Viandar de la Vera returned to San Mamés, perhaps his personal Ithaca, in the summer of last year. He was the champion of the 2016 Super Cup, the main claim of the current president of Bilbao, Jon Uriarte, in his candidacy and, beyond marketing strategies, time has proven the Basque businessman right. Without going any further, in the first season of his third stage at the helm of the club, Valverde’s Athletic barely missed the European spots and was only knocked out of the cup final by Osasuna. Today, this team that is flying high in the League, where it is fourth, once again faces a Copa del Rey semi-final. On this Wednesday night (9:30 p.m., Movistar), against Atlético de Madrid in the first leg at the Metropolitano stadium, the hungry Bilbao team will try to make amends. Youthful gallantry The commitment to tradition forces Athletic to have, as almost always, a squad full of puppies. Relying on local expertise is the only possibility for any coach who managed the San Mamés bench, but squeezing out all that adolescent talent is a challenge worthy of very few intellects. The man from Extremadura picked up a squad that had just won the Super Cup again, yes, although he had finished the league championship with more regrets than smiles. The end of Marcelino’s cycle brought with it a rarefied atmosphere; However, with Valverde the illusion returned. The experienced coach promoted the progression of his two very young stars – Nico Williams and Ohian Sancet -, gave them the keys to their attack, drew a 4-2-3-1 so that both could exploit their virtues and put together a group of warriors, of athletes even, around their stars to push their rivals to the physical limit. Related News Standard FOOTBALL No Daniel Cebreiro A The result of that methodical work is flourishing in all its splendor at the present. Athletic plays football without grays, a football of high pressure and incessant arrivals from the wing through the Williams brothers – also notable is the wonderful season of Iñaki, who has nine goals and four assists between the League and the Cup – to nourish his nine , Gorka Guruzeta (10 goals), and the arrivals from the second line of Sancet. Likewise, the good moment in Bilbao coincides with the emergence of young people like Beñat Prados, key in the double pivot alongside Vesga or the team’s metronome, Ruiz de Galarreta; Aitor Paredes, starter in the center of the defense next to Vivian; or the adolescent audacity of boys like Jaueregizar, Unai Gómez or Edu Ares. What’s more, while the gear works with splendor, two goalkeepers of the stature of Unai Simón (League) and Julen Agirrezabala (Cup) alternate their role with sportsmanship. The architect of Athletic’s superlative level is none other than Ernesto Valverde, that man who, like John Wayne in The Quiet Man (1952), returned home in search of calm, happiness and prosperity.
2024-02-07 03:26:42
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