Photo courtesy of Jon Gonzalo Torróntegui

The headlines emanating from Bilbao have had little to do with Athletic’s white-hot form, as the rumors swirling around Fernando Llorente’s future destination have blanketed this historic club.  Tottenham Hotspur has been the main culprit of the Llorente saga, originally offering €30 million, but after Athletic rejected the bid, they upped the ante to an astronomical €38.5 million, which Athletic president Fernando García Macua dismissed yet again.

While Tottenham continues to press on for the striker they desire elsewhere (€29 million for Giuseppe Rossi rejected, €27 million for Andy Carroll rejected, a supposed €45 million for Sergio Kun Agüero supposedly rejected, and a last-ditch €20 million bid for Diego Forlán on the table), Llorente has not let the hearsay affect his performances on the pitch as Athletic has risen to sixth place in La Liga with a chance to fortify this position on Sunday against Atlético Madrid.

With Sevilla only able to muster a draw against Deportivo La Coruña on Saturday night, Athletic had an opportunity to move five points clear of both Sevilla and Atlético Madrid for sixth with a win against the Atleti.

Joaquín Caparrós has been the steadying influence for Athletic in these more successful yet turbulent times, and with the constant barrage of stories concerning Llorente’s theoretical transfer, he has remained steadfast about his star striker staying in Bilbao.  Speaking about this subject to AS, his frustrations have nearly bubbled up to the surface:

“How would they like it if we were constantly saying that Xabi Alonso or Cristiano Ronaldo were going to sign for Milan?  The president has said plenty of times that Llorente is an Athletic player, and we have a project here with him.”

Caparrós has always been underrated as a manager, and the players he has managed over the years would say the same thing.  The most unpretentious and unassuming man that one will ever come across in the managing ranks was the manager when Villarreal rose to La Liga for only the second time in their history, and when he left, Villarreal became a mainstay in the Primera División, eventually morphing into a perennial European tournament club.

After lifting Villarreal to the first division, he left to join Sevilla, who was then in the Segunda División.  He could not resist managing the club that he grew up watching from his hometown of Utrera, a mere thirty kilometers away from Sevilla.  Following the lineage of legendary Sevilla managers, such as Miguel Muñoz, Carlos Bilardo, Luís Aragonés, and José Antonio Camacho, he immediately pushed Sevilla back into La Liga in 2001.  With his partnership with new owner José María del Nido, they transformed a mid-table team into a perpetual European club.  Shrewd signings, shrewd sellings, and a simple team philosophy of a high-pressure defense and an organized attack symbolized Sevilla, and Caparrós brought these same characteristics when he accepted the manager’s job at Athletic Club in 2007.

All Caparrós has done since anchoring in Bilbao includes their first Copa del Rey final since 1985, their first European competition since 2004, and an eighth-place finish last season, Athletic’s best since the 2003-04 season.

With all the sexier European football clubs wrangling and yearning for Fernando Llorente, Llorente remains committed to the Athletic cause, and the main reason is the leadership and man-managing skills of one Joaquín Caparrós.

If Athletic Bilbao evokes the notion of stability in the past few years, Atlético Madrid masochistically remains in a constant condition of turmoil.  Atlético can aptly be described as bipolar, and this latest stretch since the beginning of the new year would fall in the more depressive state of mind.  Only two points behind Valencia for the final Champions League spot prior to the winter intermission, one win in seven in all competitions has seen los colchoneros meekly knocked out of the Copa del Rey by Real Madrid and has dropped them a chasmic ten points behind Valencia for fourth.

Whereas Athletic have only had to deal with the Llorente transfer gossip, Atlético have had to handle a myriad of internal problems, not only with the potential departures of Agüero and Forlán but the tenuous nature of Quique Sánchez Flores stay as manager and the purported disharmony inside the dressing room.  What cures most ills for a football club is winning, and despite the troubles abounding for los rojiblancos, a win at home over Bilbao would regain sixth place while somewhat keeping pace with Valencia and Espanyol for Champions League football.

Atlético received an extra and necessary boost prior to their match with Athletic when Quique Sánchez Flores was able to pen Sergio Agüero into his starting eleven after Agüero suffered a muscle tear in his left leg against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinal two and a half weeks ago.  Atlético’s paltry returns have existed since the end of December, where they have scored more than one goal in only one of their last nine matches in all competitions, but without Agüero for the past two to three weeks, scoring has become a painful chore.  The chances they have created have dwindled to a new low when Atlético did not record a shot on goal against Sporting Gijón last weekend until the final minute of injury time, when Iván Cuéllar brilliantly tipped over Juan Valera’s header to preserve the 1-0 win for struggling Sporting.

With Agüero available against Athletic, Atlético’s attack instantly became more fluid, and with Athletic opening up their play from the first whistle, it was amazing that only one goal was scored in the first half between the two teams.  Forlán had a couple of strikes coolly saved by Athletic goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz, Agüero split the Athletic central defense several times and missed an unmolested header at the left back post from Tomáš Ujfaluši’s right-wing cross, and José Antonio Reyes, the Atleti’s best player this season, provided killer through balls and threatened Athletic with runs cutting in from both flanks.

Despite all that attacking intent, Atlético could not break through, and they shot themselves in the foot when referee Fernando Teixeira Vitienes sent off Luís Perea for, in his judgment, denying Fernando Llorente an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.  The red card was debatable, but the penalty was not.  David López and Llorente underwent a strong discussion about who would take the penalty, and after Llorente won the argument, he dragged his penalty nearly a yard wide of the left post.

Llorente and Athletic Club did not let the missed penalty affect them negatively, and they took advantage of their man advantage to score the crucial opening goal in the only minute of stoppage time in the first half.  Andoni Iraola’s cross from the right wing was perfectly weighted for Gaizka Toquero in the box, and Toquero volleyed it first-time toward the right far post and past de Gea for the 0-1 lead.  The Atlético marking was criminal as Toquero had yards of space after the Iraola cross to take it down and control it if he wanted, but Toquero wasted no time and slotted it home for his first goal in La Liga this season.

Until Gaizka Toquero scored his second of the match in the 64th minute, Atlético engendered more scoring chances, pinning Athletic in their own half of the pitch even with ten men, but the scoring drought continued, and when Toquero tallied the second goal for Athletic, the spirit in which they played throughout the match slowly dissipated from the Atleti players.

0-2 fulltime, and while the red card changed the complexion of the match, Atlético still had several golden chances to score with a man down and could not capitalize.  For Athletic, Llorente’s missed penalty could have set Athletic behind even though they were a man up at that point, but they kept plugging away, and no player on Athletic personified that heart and desire like Gaizka Toquero, who deservedly scored twice in this match to open his account for the season.

Toquero received the match ball and man of the match honors, and those plaudits were duly warranted, but with Athletic Club playing an expansive style against Atlético, the 18-year-old future of Bilbao, Iker Muniain, thrived under those conditions.  His slight frame is not built for the direct, physical nature of Athletic’s general play, but he has seamlessly adapted into the Athletic approach by toughening up and by willing to engage in physical encounters without being knocked off the ball.  With the match stretched for the majority of the time, Muniain found the scything passes and the pockets of space to lead his teammates into, and he challenged the Atlético defender numerous times with direct runs with the ball.

Athletic Bilbao showed the diversification of their portfolio against Atlético with their adaptation to playing a more indirect, passing football when the situation allows such a system to exist, and Joaquín Caparrós again demonstrated his flexibility to change his tactics rather than bullishly sticking to one mode of play.

Athletic hovered around the Europa League spots last season but finished a mere four points behind Getafe for the final Europa League berth (the Villarreal ascension into the Europa League due to Mallorca entering into administration notwithstanding).  The inconsistency that plagued this team a year ago has lessened this campaign because the stability provided by Caparrós and President Fernando García Macua has given this team time to build a chemistry that is comparable to the instinctive and telepathic communication displayed at FC Barcelona.  Fran Yeste was the only significant departure this past summer, Iker Muniain has matured exponentially both physically and mentally, and the two representatives at the World Cup for Bilbao, Javi Martínez and Fernando Llorente, have grown as leaders of this relatively young Athletic squad both on and off the pitch.

Espanyol, in a similar track to Athletic, recently lost two of their young, talented defenders, Víctor Ruiz and Dídac Vilà, to those European suitors, so keeping their top talents is the only way that Athletic can maintain these top half finishes consistently.  The glory days of the 1930s and the 1980s might not have arrived at Athletic just yet, but if they can somehow fend off the European suitors that desperately want both Muniain and Llorente, they could become a mainstay in the top-six of La Liga for years to come.

Fueras de Juego

- Can the title race really be called off with seventeen rounds remaining?  Another lackluster performance by Real Madrid finally resulted in a loss, as Javier Camuñas’ chip over Iker Casillas ended up as the lone goal in a match that was more about desire and desperation than it was about the football.  Osasuna had only lost once at the Estadio Reyno Navarra all season in La Liga, and the thick and heavy atmosphere of the stadium troubles any team that visits Pamplona.  Los merengues now trail Barcelona by seven points, an enormous gulf considering that the blaugrana have dropped only five points in twenty-one matches this season.  Emmanuel Adebayor, the No. 9 that José Mourinho desired for so long, came in with about half an hour left and provided little as Real might have to look to the Copa del Rey or the UEFA Champions League if they want any silverware before the end of the campaign.

The moral of this story: if your team is leading late in the match, and the opposition is pelting your team’s half of the pitch with every ounce they have, tactical and professional fouls can work to slow them down, but the best remedy to break the game up is to have the ball boys and girls throw extra balls on the field during the run of play.  Osasuna’s minors did that twice and unsurprisingly at important times.  Like Jeffrey Maier, whose fan interference was key in the New York Yankees run to the World Series championship in 1996, these kids will be lauded by the Osasuna fans as much as Javier Camuñas for scoring the only goal.

- FC Barcelona looked underwhelming for once but still achieved a 0-3 road victory at the Estadio José Rico Pérez against Hércules.  The side from Alicante tends to bring about Barcelona’s worst play, and if Hércules could have somehow pulled off another shocker, they would have notched their fourth straight victory over Barça, which had not been achieved since 1965 when Atlético Madrid pulled off that feat.

- Deportivo La Coruña has only scored more than two goals three times in all competitions this season, so when Sevilla goalkeeper Andrés Palop was sent off for an intentional handball, and Lassad Nouioui scored a brace to lead the Andalucians 2-0 with twenty-seven minutes remaining, the odds of Sevilla storming back with three unanswered goals was highly unlikely.  Welcome to the world of Miguel Ángel Lotina.  Sevilla scored their three in a short sixteen minutes with a man down to take the 2-3 lead, but as time neared the ninety-minute mark, Laure equalized for Depor in one of the most controversial moments of the season.

The linesman clearly raised his flag because he felt Laure was offside when he knocked his half-volley past Javi Varas, but referee Miguel Ángel Ayza Gámez waved play on, and the replay backed up Ayza Gámez’s overrule of his assistant.  The Sevilla players were incensed, to put it mildly, and the whole team promptly surrounded both the linesman and the referee in one of the uglier scenes in Spanish football this season.  Luckily, for both Depor and the refereeing crew, the match was at El Riazor in A Coruña.  If this had happened at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, with the images of Iker Casillas being pelted by a bottle still fresh in the mind, all hell might have broken loose.

- The best display of football happened at the Estadi Cornellà El-Prat, where Villarreal escaped with a narrow 0-1 victory because of the blistering power and accuracy of Giuseppe Rossi’s shot, which beat Carlos Kameni at his left near post with nearly no angle in which to shoot, surely a top-five candidate for goal of the season.  The big question for Espanyol coming into the match was how they would replace the losses of Víctor Ruíz and Dídac Vilà to Napoli and AC Milan respectively.

Jordi Amat, the 18-year-old central defender from the Espanyol cantera, played and emitted an aura of a veteran, assuredly commencing build-up play from the back even with pressure on him and getting physical with his man when necessary.  While Espanyol lost, a draw would have been the fairer result, as Espanyol controlled possession and the flow of play throughout the match, and los periquitos look well equipped to stay in the auspices of the European places for the rest of the season.

What the match also showed is that Villarreal can win when they have to play on the counter-attack and rely on their defense and organization.  A 0-1 lead away from home was not usually a lead that the Yellow Submarine could hold too often, but against a quality club who had won every match but one at home in La Liga all season, Villarreal passed another difficult test in their quest for a top-three finish.

When Spain fell to the hands of Switzerland in the opening match of World Cup 2010, the vultures suddenly appeared from the sky and circled around their “dying” carcass.  No team has ever won the World Cup after losing its first match.  The ghosts from yesteryear are rising from the dead and haunting this current team about their ancestors’ past failures.  Previous entrenador Luis Aragonés ranted about Vicente del Bosque and indirectly undermined most of what Vicente del Bosque has done with this team.  Although Spain has only made it to the quarterfinals after defeating 1-0 over Portugal in Cape Town yesterday, La Furia Roja’s form suggests that rising to the occasion will not be the same problem as it has in previous international competitions.

Spain’s only injury concern before their match against Portugal was Xabi Alonso’s sprained ankle he suffered against Chile, but del Bosque slotted him in the center of midfield after passing a late fitness test.  Del Bosque saw no reason to change his starting eleven, but if he had any reservations about one of his players, it would have been Fernando Torres because of his erratic play in the group stage.

99% of the time, Torres would be an automatic starter, but still recovering from knee surgery in April, his lack of match sharpness became painfully obvious in his starts against Honduras and Chile when his first touch disappeared on him on numerous occasions, and his finishing would have the usual Nike T90 ball well off target, much less the unpredictable Adidas Jabulani ball.

After a strong first few minutes where he made threatening runs into the penalty area and curled a shot from the left side of the penalty box that forced a diving save from Eduardo at his far right post, Torres’ contributions were minimal.  Fernando Llorente came in for Torres in the 58th minute, and after Llorente lit a second spark for the Spaniards after the hour mark, del Bosque might need to reconsider who plays alongside David Villa in the quarterfinals against Paraguay.

As for the other twenty-one players on the pitch, the eleven from Spain exhibited no sliver of the tentative attitude they displayed in the first twenty minutes against Chile, as they pinned Portugal’s eleven into their own half and peppered Eduardo’s goal with shot after shot, especially working the left wing.  Portugal has used three different right backs in their four games (Paulo Ferreira, Miguel, and new Valencia signing Ricardo Costa), so the scouting report must have emphasized attacking this vulnerability.

Portugal manager Carlos Queiroz would not have worried about Spain’s possession or his team’s ability to organize themselves defensively because of their strong defensive record, one goal allowed in their last eleven competitive international matches to be more specific.  Whether he tried to build his players’ confidence or he was delusional, he described the match against Brazil and his ultra-conservative gameplan as a “football feast” where Portugal attacked and Brazil defended.  Using that same blueprint against Spain, Queiroz would have felt that Spain was falling right into his strategy.

And fall they did as Spain’s possession became ponderous, and Portugal felt more assured to throw some men forward in the counter-attack.  Tiago popped an effort from twenty-five yards that Iker Casillas needed a second handle to slap away from an on-charging Hugo Almeida, Cristiano Ronaldo struck a dipping free kick from over forty yards that Casillas somewhat fumbled, and Almeida botched a header from a precise Raul Meireles cross that could have easily given Portugal that precious first goal.  Spain did what they wanted, but Portugal did what they wanted better than Spain.

After the halftime break, the status quo reigned for the first fifteen minutes of the second half as Spain could not penetrate the defense, and Portugal remained dangerous on the counter.  The match changed when Torres came out in the 58th minute and in stepped Fernando Llorente, the Athletic Bilbao target man making his first appearance in this World Cup.  He immediately made an instant impact with his first touch when his diving header from de facto right winger Sergio Ramos’ cross forced a brilliant point-blank save from Eduardo.

Then the combination of FC Barcelona midfielders Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández with future Barcelona forward David Villa occurred with such Catalunyan flair that a picture diagram is necessary to complement the authorial description.

A one-two with Fernando Llorente gave Iniesta the space to dribble around the “D” to find Xavi coming back into an onside location.  In no position to go towards goal, the indomitable Xavi used all the resources of his spatial-temporal reasoning to visualize David Villa’s diagonal run from the left corner of the penalty area and back flick Iniesta’s pass first-time into space, where Villa shot with his left foot to the left near post.  Eduardo did extremely well to cover that area of goal and saved it with his feet; however, the rebound tracked directly back to Villa, and with his feathery touch, he lifted the ball over the sprawled Eduardo, kissing the underside of the crossbar and into goal.

When Spain forced Portugal to chase the game after Villa’s goal, A Selecção looked incapable of forming a cohesive attacking move.  Carles Puyol and Joan Capdevila blocked their only two truly legitimate chances, and the double substitution of Pedro Mendes and Liédson for Simão Sabrosa and Pepe proved to do little for Portugal as Spain controlled the rest of the match.  The only footnotes worth noting after Villa’s goal were Xabi Alonso’s yellow card, the first booking for Spain in the World Cup, David Villa’s stellar play, and Ricardo Costa’s red card after he supposedly elbowed Joan Capdevila, although replays showed little contact and Capdevila’s “writhing of pain” as he covered his face in apparent anguish.

Spain deserved to reach the quarterfinals, and with a gritty Paraguay side that will likely employ similar tactics as Portugal, the Spaniards should feel self-assured about performing well against Paraguay.  David Villa looks to be the favorite in both the Golden Boot and Golden Ball awards, Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta control the midfield and keep possession for this Spain team, and the underrated back four closes down the ball very quickly when their opponents reach their own third.

For those who believe in numerology, Spain’s quarterfinal appearance marks the fourth time in the last seven World Cups where they have reached this stage of the tournament (every other World Cup since 1986), and each time, they failed to progress to the semifinals.  So what is different about this team compared to those other Spanish teams that have flattered to deceive?

Silverware.

Capturing the 2008 European Championships cannot be overstated as a confidence building measure for a country that always produced talent but never fused them into a unified national team.  The regionalism manifested in Spain has hindered the team in the past, as the chemistry never fit a team with such potential.  Some tend to overrate unity and chemistry and propose that talent overcomes whatever problems occur in-house, but numerous examples such as Greece in Euro 2004, South Korea in World Cup 2002, and New Zealand in this year’s World Cup show that twenty-three players playing for one cause can be as powerful as a team littered with world-class players.

Vicente del Bosque will mull over the Fernando Torres question during these two rest days while the players train to see if he finds any slice of form to suggest that Torres is improving enough to warrant a start against Paraguay on Saturday.  It takes a brave man to replace Torres with Fernando Llorente in the starting eleven, but for the betterment of the team, del Bosque must make this move to ensure Spain’s optimal lineup against Paraguay.

While Spain will likely defeat Paraguay whether Torres or Llorente starts, del Bosque should incorporate Llorente from the start to develop a rhythm with the other outfield players as a potential semifinal between either Argentina or Germany looms.  Spain is peaking at the perfect time, and flying under the radar with Brazil and Argentina garnering most of the headlines, this is exactly the position that Spain wants and desires at this stage of the tournament.

Will Spain's fortunes in the World Cup be similar to Euro 2008 or the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup?

On Tuesday, the goalkeepers and defenders were discussed, and Wednesday, the midfielders were discussed.  With all of the creative talent in the midfield, that will bring the pressure on the forwards to convert the multitudes of chances that Xavi, Xabi Alonso, etc. will create for them.  Obviously, the two starting men up front would be David Villa and Fernando Torres, but Torres currently faces an uphill battle to be fit enough for their first World Cup game on June 16 against Switzerland because he is still recovering from knee surgery in April that cost him the rest of the Premier League season.

Thus, the reserve forwards will have a significant role to play, and while those two spots are not secure, Fernando Llorente of Athletic Bilbao has the third-choice forward in his hands.  Included in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup squad, he epitomizes the target-man center forward with his height and strength.  His technical skill should not be overlooked either, and with fourteen goals in La Liga and eight goals in the Europa League this season, only injury or a disastrous training camp will prevent him from making the squad.

Álvaro Negredo endured an inconsistent season with Sevilla, failing to impress enough to dislodge either Luís Fabiano or Frédéric Kanouté up front.  Because both could not continually stay fit, Manolo Jiménez and Antonio Álvarez gave Negredo numerous chances to prove himself.  His occasional run-ins with the Sevilla technical staff did nothing to paint himself in a more positive light, but when he played for the national team in his four appearances, he belonged.

His two goals against Bosnia and Herzegovina certainly showed his potential, but if Vicente del Bosque will finalize the last few spots based on current form, Negredo will have plenty of work to do in the last week of the La Liga season, the Copa del Rey final against Atlético Madrid, and the training camp to convince del Bosque that he deserves a seat on the plane to South Africa.

Dani Güiza has been the third forward since late 2007 for the Spanish national team, and his two goals in Euro 2008, including the match-winner against previous European champions Greece, showed that he could shine in the limelight of international football.  He made a newsworthy transfer in the summer of 2008 when he moved to Fenerbahçe for €17.4 million after winning the Pichichi with Mallorca in the previous season, and while he has had moderate success with the Istanbul club, he has not lived up to that transfer fee.

This season, he scored eleven goals in the Turkish Süper Lig but did not score in any of Fenerbahçe’s Europa League matches once they qualified for the group stage.  Llorente, Negredo, and Güiza are similar strikers in style, so Vicente del Bosque will have to decide among the proven international Güiza, the in-form Llorente, and the mercurial but talented Negredo.

That leaves the wild card in this discussion, Pedro Rodríguez.  A talented player from the La Masia youth academy of FC Barcelona, his original role on this year’s Barcelona squad was to be a backup to Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry, but as Henry slogged through a dip in form, Pedro unexpectedly rose in prominence, and he became the first player to score in six different competitions in one calendar.

Firmly entrenched in the three-pronged attack for Barcelona, he does not just score the meaningless goals when Barcelona is up two or three goals.  In the Champions League, Copa del Rey, and important La Liga matches, he scored numerous times that either tied the match, gave Barça the lead, or provided that two-goal cushion to ease the nerves.  Uncapped at the international level, that might be a knock to most players, but with his revelation of a season combined with a skill set that is completely different from the other strikers contending for the reserve forward spots, Pedro has a better than a fifty percent chance to join some of his Barcelona teammates in South Africa.

Whatever decisions Vicente del Bosque makes for his final 23-man squad, the wealth of talent from which he has an honor to choose is unparalleled in international football.  As detailed in Spanish national team history, they have always had supreme skill yet folded in the biggest moments.  With their Euro 2008 success, this team might have exorcised those demons, but now they are co-favorites with Brazil to win World Cup 2010, and anything less than a finals appearance will be a bitter disappointment.

Vicente del Bosque’s Provisional 30-Man Squad

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas, Pepe Reina, Víctor Valdés, Diego López, and David de Gea

Defenders: Sergio Ramos, Álvaro Arbeloa, Raúl Albiol, Gerard Piqué, Carles Puyol, Carlos Marchena, Joan Capdevila, and César Azpilicueta

Midfielders: Xavi Hernández, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Juan Mata, David Silva, Marcos Senna, Santi Cazorla, Jesús Navas, Javi Martínez, and Cesc Fàbregas

Forwards: David Villa, Fernando Torres, Fernando Llorente, Pedro Rodríguez, Dani Güiza, Álvaro Negredo

Even the dog felt low after Athletic Bilbao's performance against Valencia.

Sevilla failed to show up against a desperate Real Valladolid side.  Mallorca could only muster a draw against Real Zaragoza at La Romareda.  Athletic Bilbao knew that a win against Valencia on Thursday would ascend them to within one point of Mallorca for the final Champions League spot.

Sure, Athletic has not won away from the San Mamés since the middle of December, so they were not expected to win at the Mestalla against a Valencia team looking to lock up the final automatic Champions League place.  Coming off an impressive 4-1 dismantling of an in-form Almería on Sunday, however, Joaquín Caparrós and his men seemed to have the confidence necessary to defeat Valencia.

As for Valencia, they went back to the future because of their sheer amount of injuries.  Vicente Rodríguez, David Albelda, Joaquín, and Rubén Baraja all started for Los Che, hearkening back to the days when Valencia regularly competed in the later stages of the Champions League.

The apparent rift between Éver Banega and Unai Emery seemed to be repaired after Banega’s choleric behavior in being substituted against Mallorca on Sunday, but again, Banega’s inclusion in the starting eleven had more to do with the lack of midfield players at Emery’s disposal than any other factor.

With any match against Athletic Bilbao, the opposition should expect a physical affair and have a muted emphasis on quelling Bilbao’s direct style of play.  Fortunately for Valencia, Athletic played with a languid style that did not suit their personnel.

Joaquín Caparrós lamented his team’s lack of energy and intensity in his press conference after the match:

“Today we have not been at the competitive level we can show at home.  We knew it was a very good chance, but things do not go as one wants.  In the locker room, it feels like the season is already over.  We had hopes, but we knew that Valencia does really well in their home matches.  We still feel anger that we did not come out with greater aggression.”

With Athletic ceding most of the possession to Valencia, David Villa, David Silva, and the Valencia attack needed to figure out how to break through the obstinate Athletic defense.  Valencia plays it best football on the counter-attack, and it is no surprise that after Barcelona and Real Madrid, Valencia has the best away record in La Liga.  Through the first half-hour, there was no constant threat on goal from either team.  Joaquín and Rubén Baraja had headers that endangered Gorka Iraizoz’s goal, but Iraizoz handled them with relative ease.

When David Silva scored from a goal-line scramble in the 35th minute, Athletic neither stepped up their game nor fought back with anger, in line with Caparrós’ assessment of his team after the match.

Athletic’s lack of confidence away from home was clearly evident against Valencia, but they missed two key players that would have been vital in raising the spirits of their teammates: Gaizka Toquero and Pablo Orbaiz.

Gaizka Toquero has been the loyal sidekick to Fernando Llorente as the right-sided forward this season, but his contributions have gone well beyond his seven goals scored this season.  A journeyman throughout most of his career in the lower divisions of Spain, the twenty-five year old would appreciate his opportunity to play with a top-level club more than most players, and his never-ending engine only helps to endear himself to his teammates and the Basque faithful.

Toquero wears the number two jersey, a number usually designated for a fullback, but many times, he helps Andoni Iraola on the right side of defense.  Whereas Wayne Rooney sometimes receives criticism for running all over the pitch instead of focusing on his duties up front, fans laud Toquero for his abundance of energy and his willingness to help his defense when necessary.

With Pablo Orbaiz, he provides the steel in front of the defensive live that breaks up the opposition’s play as well as providing that extra slice of intimidation that comes with the Athletic Club brand.  Orbaiz has gone over the line in a couple of instances this season, including receiving a two-match ban for his part in the ugly fracas at the end of the Villarreal match in February and receiving another two-match ban in March for kicking the cajones of David Cortés.

Athletic needed that extra bite in the midfield (the legal bite) against Valencia because of their skill players up front, and Carlos Gurpegui, Javi Martínez, and David López did not supply the girth necessary to bother Valencia.

After the halftime break, the insertion of Fran Yeste and Ander Iturraspe for the lagging David López and Igor Gabilondo brought a sense of vitality into the squad, but when David Silva scored his second goal in the 62nd minute, the fight and tenacity intertwined with Athletic Club players dissipated slowly into oblivion as Valencia cruised to a facile 2-0 victory to fortify their third-place position in La Liga.

This column has covered Athletic Club’s struggles when they have had a chance to threaten fourth-place, but to come up so small with the season reaching its climax is inexcusable for a team so close to qualifying for the Champions League.  A common theme in La Liga this season has been the failure of the second tier teams below Real Madrid and Barcelona to fulfill their potential.  Sevilla, Villarreal, and Atlético Madrid have seen significant dips in form, and while Athletic Club may not have been in that tier to begin the season, they have been consistent in the top ten.

To Bilbao’s advantage, four of their final six matches are at the San Mamés, and with their Dr. Jekyll – Mr. Hyde act, they should consider themselves favorites to garner at least ten out of twelve points from those matches.  A Europa League berth based on league standing would be a good achievement for Athletic Club, but if they can finish in fourth and negotiate the playoff round in the Champions League, any European team would dread traveling to the San Mamés on a European night.

Fueras de Juego

- The golazo of the week must go to Pedro Rodríguez of Barcelona in their 3-0 win over Deportivo La Coruña.  With Barça holding a slim 1-0 lead, Víctor Valdés went long with his goal kick, a rare occurrence for Valdés, because he saw Dani Alves streaking down the middle of the pitch with only one defender back.  Depor goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia came out of his area to clear the ball away from Alves.  It was not the greatest clearance, but it went as far as the halfway line.  From that point, Pedro kicked a soaring, curling ball first-time nearly from the halfway line into the back of the unguarded net.  In a season full of awe-inspiring moments for Barça, that Pedro goal ranks near the top of the list in terms of pure difficulty and technique.

- Whenever a club from the bottom half of the table needs a signature victory over a top-five team, Sevilla is the most charitable team to give those lower clubs that sense of belonging.  In Round 32, Real Valladolid took advantage of a below-par Sevilla side, and with their 2-0 victory on Wednesday evening, La Pucela climbed to within four points of Málaga and relegation safety.  As much as Quique Sánchez Flores pulls his hair out for Atlético Madrid’s inconsistency, Manolo Jiménez and now Antonio Álvarez cannot understand how their collection of talented players have shut it down for the most part at the end of the season.  Injuries took its toll on Los Nervionenses, but that is no excuse for the dearth of passion late in the season as they try to qualify for the Champions League for the third year running.

- Tenerife and Xerez, the other teams besides Valladolid in the drop zone, also won on Wednesday to increase their chances of staying in the top flight next season.  With Málaga and Real Zaragoza just above them but hardly running away from the relegation fight, a surge to end the campaign is not out of the question for the bottom three teams.

Referee Alfonso Pérez Burrull had many situations with which to deal in this match.

While Real Madrid and Barcelona run away from the rest of the field in the struggle for the La Liga title, the tussle for the next four European spots is just as fascinating.  The mix of teams truly runs the gamut from the usuals to the upstarts.

Sevilla and Valencia continue to be the consistent teams that finish in the top five.  Deportivo La Coruña is trying to regain their European pedigree that glittered the Galicians from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s.  Athletic Bilbao and Mallorca have ridden the roller coaster in the past decade, from top-ten finishes to relegation scares in other years.  Then there is Getafe, the little team from the outskirts of Madrid that has actually competed in European competition more recently than Athletic, Mallorca, or Depor.

In the early Saturday kickoff, Athletic Club and Getafe squared off in San Mamés in a match that included direct consequences to the European race.  Unlike most leagues, if clubs are tied on points at the end of the season, the first tiebreaker is the head-to-head record.  In the reverse fixture in October, Getafe handled the Basques with little problem 2-0, although that game occurred at a time when Athletic reeled from losing four of their previous six matches.  Now that the end-of-season possibilities become much clearer, both of these teams had plenty of incentive to take the three points with Europe in the front of their minds.

This was Getafe’s first match since they received the news that Roberto Soldado would be out of action for a month and a half with a torn meniscus in his right knee.  Miku, the striker that Getafe got on a free transfer in January from Valencia, became the natural replacement for Soldado as the lone striker in Getafe’s 4-2-3-1 formation.

Getafe’s back line was a bit of a hodgepodge because right back Miguel Torres filled in as a central defender in place of Cata Díaz, and David Cortés got a rare start at right back.  Preparing a makeshift defense to face a fierce three-pronged Athletic attack, especially at San Mamés, was one of the top priorities for Getafe manager Míchel heading into Saturday.

Athletic Club, however, had its regular players ready for selection against Getafe.  In their 0-0 draw with Sporting Gijón last weekend, Athletic missed another penalty that cost them points.  That time, it was Igor Gabilondo that was denied, and with none of the relevant teams in the European scrap winning last weekend, Athletic threw away two more vital points that would have tied them with Sevilla at fourth place.

When Athletic plays at home, they tend to play more football on the ground than in the air, and they ratchet up their typical physical play.  Saturday’s match was no exception, and when Pablo Orbaiz scored in the 14th minute for Athletic, they deserved to be in the lead.  Bilbao’s manager Joaquin Caparrós employed his tactics to perfection, as his team pushed around Getafe, and El Geta had no answer.  Even though Getafe played with more of the ball, Athletic did not allow them to flow with their usual fluidity.  The only way that Getafe could get into the match was through an Athletic mistake, and that mistake transpired in the 32nd minute, when Manu del Moral’ shot/cross somehow sneaked past Gorka Iraizoz to equalize 1-1.

The Getafe attack seemed to have passed, and Manu’s cross from the left flank initially looked harmless, but Bilbao central defender Mikel San José, on loan from Liverpool, decided to let the ball go at the last second towards Iraizoz instead of clearing it, and Iraizoz could not adjust himself in time when he realized the ball was coming toward him.  The ball nestled into the side netting, and the shock and frustration from that conceded goal spilled over in the 37th minute when Pablo Orbaiz was sent off with a red card.

After Orbaiz suffered a late challenge from David Cortés, Orbaiz retaliated by viciously kicking David Cortés in the groin.  Cortés received a yellow card for the tackle on Orbaiz, but Orbaiz’s indemnity for the tackle was uncalled for and potentially damaging for Athletic in the long run, as he will likely be suspended for more than one match.

Athletic continued their on-the-edge physical style when Carlos Gurpegui was cautioned for studding Javier Casquero’s ankle late in the first half.

To start the second half, Caparrós made an aggressive and positive substitution by inserting Iker Muniain in place of Gabilondo on the left side of Fernando Llorente.  Gabilondo ghosted through the first half, and whether David Cortés gave him fits down the left flank, or he had not recovered from his missed penalty hangover, Caparrós made the right move by giving Muniain a chance to spark his ten-man team.

Muniain did just as he was prescribed, catalyzing an attack that nearly gave Gaizka Toquero a tap-in to give Athletic the 2-1 edge.  In the 51st minute, Muniain performed some fancy dribbling to lay it off for Andoni Iraola, and Iraola’s hit his squared ball across the face of goal a shade too hard for Gaizka Toquero to get a toe on it, and it flashed just past the left far post.

With the game opened up completely with only twenty-one players on the pitch, Getafe expectedly had the upper hand, but Athletic endeavored into Getafe’s final third quite often, especially since the inclusion of Iker Muniain.

The game came to a lull until Miguel Torres brought down Markel Susaeta in the box to give Athletic a penalty kick to regain the lead.  Torres received a straight red card for a “pull” on the shirt of Susaeta in the box on top of his yellow card he received earlier in the match.  There was little to no contact from Torres on Susaeta, but Torres caused the problem when he tried to shepherd the ball back to Getafe goalkeeper Jordi Codina but could not reach Codina before Susaeta got there.

Fernando Llorente squeezed his penalty past Jordi Codina.

The penalty responsibility laid upon their talisman Fernando Llorente, and Athletic’s poor three for seven conversion rate from the penalty spot this year could easily have weighed on Llorente’s mind as he stepped up to take the penalty.  Maybe that was on his mind, but he did not show it as he stroked the ball into the back of the net.  Codina guessed the right way, but Llorente placed it in the corner, where Codina could not get a hand onto it.

The lead did not last long, as Pedro León completely baffled Carlos Gurpegui with a couple of cutbacks in the box, and Gurpegui could only recover enough to partially deflect Pedro León’s shot and fool Iraizoz as it went past him.  A 2-2 final that both teams would feel as though they should have earned the full three points.

What a match for referee Alfonso Pérez Burrull to call.  A couple of weeks ago, after a horrific performance in the Atlético Madrid – Valencia match, the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) suspended Pérez Burrull for a couple of matches.  Unfortunately known for his high-profile gaffes, Pérez Burrull had to control a match that was on the verge of chaos.  The belief is that a strong referee can limit a match from becoming out of control, and while in most cases that is true, the referee can do little if the players have it in their mind to follow through on their cynical ideas.

Athletic Club is one of the hardest teams for referees to call in La Liga because their physical style borders on the line from legal to illegal.  Maybe Pérez Burrull could have warned both teams earlier when the challenges flew around with little abandon, but he could not prevent what Pablo Orbaiz did to David Cortés.  In addition, the other talking point was the penalty and subsequent red card he brandished to Miguel Torres late in the match.  Yes, the contact was minimal, but Torres did prevent Susaeta from a goal-scoring opportunity, and Pérez Burrull had little choice in the matter.

The referee aside, Athletic can only blame itself for surrendering two points to Getafe.  Los Azulones are a solid team, but they lacked their top scorer, and Athletic’s supernal home form would suggest a win against Getafe.  Luckily, for Athletic, none of the teams with whom they are involved in the competition for Europe strung a series of positive results that would have put Bilbao in a severe uphill climb.  Eleven matches remain, and if Athletic can stay disciplined for those upcoming matches, they can easily qualify for Europe due to placement in the league, not because they were the losing team in the Copa del Rey final.

Fueras de Juego

- Sevilla’s malaise continues as Espanyol thrived on Los Nervionenses‘ impotent performance with an easy 2-0 win.  Aside from the match itself, the fans at the Cornellà – El Prat paid a poignant tribute to both teams’ fallen players, Daniel Jarque and Antonio Puerta.  All season long, the Espanyol fans all clap in unison during the 21st minute in honor of their previous captain Daniel Jarque, who wore the number 21 and who tragically died in the preseason from a heart attack.  If there were any team that would know this pain, it would be Sevilla because in August of 2007, they lost their own player, Antonio Puerta, to a cardiac arrest.  When the game reached the 16th minute, the Espanyol fans stood up and clapped for that whole minute in honor of Antonio Puerta, who wore the number 16.

- Three golazos of the week.  The golazo for pure technique goes to Felipe Mattioni of Mallorca.  Mallorca kept its stellar home form with a 4-1 dismissal of Atlético Madrid, and the exclamation point for the islanders was Felipe Mattioni’s exquisite volley in the 90th minute that astonished Atleti goalkeeper David de Gea.  From a curling cross from the left flank, Mattioni side-volleyed a bullet that required perfect timing and technique from twenty-five yards.

- David Silva provided the golazo of the week for pure improvisation as his Valencia team struck an impressive 2-0 victory over an Almería team that could be argued as the third best team in La Liga in the second half of the season.  Knocked down on the floor from a Santi Acasiete tackle, Silva still possessed the presence of mind to keep himself involved in the play, and from the seat of his pants, he swept and hooked the ball into goal past a diving Diego Alves.

- In Lionel Messi’s hat-trick in Barcelona’s 2-4 win against a tough Real Zaragoza side when they play at home in La Romareda, his second goal was the golazo of the week for pure determination.  Not known for his physical prowess, Messi bullied the ball away from Ander Herrera near the halfway line, and he proceeded to go on a mazy run, skipping past a sliding Jiri Jarošik, then cutting back twice against Matteo Contini, who screwed himself into the ground with the twist and turns that Messi forced them to do, and ultimately shooting across the face of goal and past Roberto to give Barça the 0-2 lead.  In contrast to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s glaring misses, Messi’s ingenuity continues to awe.

Filipe Luís Kasmirski in better times.

The use of war imagery for the headline may not be appropriate during these sensitive times, but it aptly describes Deportivo La Coruña’s predicament as they conclude the first half of their season tied for fourth place, the final UEFA Champions League spot, with Mallorca on thirty-four points (Mallorca holds the tiebreaker over Depor with their 2-0 win at the ONO Estadi).  Depor’s squad is not particularly deep, and they will not win any beauty contests with their brand of football, but the efficacy of their football cannot be questioned.

Depor has conceded only nineteen goals through nineteen matches, which ranks them fourth in the league defensively; however, the twenty-three goals they have scored means that they have little margin to walk away with the victory.  Six 1-0 wins and thirteen matches that have concluded with a one-goal margin or a draw show that the line among a win, draw, or loss runs fine for the Galicians.  A moment of inspiration or a vital defensive stop decides many of their games.

Before they hosted the Basques at El Riazor, the long injury list worried manager Miguel Ángel Lotina.  Sergio González, Riki, and Mista have been out since early January, and the dynamic winger Andrés Guardado was still a long-term injury concern after Osasuna’s Javad Nekounam chopped him down and tore Guardado’s MCL.  Lotina hopes to rely on Guardado’s services by the beginning of March, but until then, the creativity would fall into the legs of Filipe Luís Kasmirski.

With a clash between Deportivo La Coruña and Athletic Bilbao, most would expect physicality and full-blooded challenges, and the first forty-five minutes certainly did not disprove these assumptions.  Los Leones controlled the game on both sides of the pitch, and Fernando Llorente spoiled numerous opportunities that would be considered more than half-chances.  The assistant referee took a goal away from Gaizka Toquero for an offside call, but replays showed the call to be inconclusive at best, and Athletic was unlucky not to score the opening goal.

Depor had few extended spells of possession and did little to suggest that they would threaten Bilbao goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz’s net.  The litany of absences began to manifest itself in Depor’s tedious play and demeanor.  Fortunate to be scoreless at halftime, that would be the only positive that Miguel Ángel Lotina could muster in his team talk.  Lotina would have been in his right to castigate his players with the most severe words in the Spanish language, and they could not have any response to him.  If nothing else, Los Blanquiazules have the uncanny ability to hang around when all else fails.

When Depor scored in the 49th minute to take the 1-0 lead, it was fully undeserved in the context of this match, but the wasted chances by Athletic Bilbao eventually came back to bite them.  From the left flank, Pablo Álvarez’s shot deflected to the right edge of the six-yard box and found Rodolfo Bodipo, who headed it across goal toward the surging Filipe Luís at the left post.  Filipe got the touch ahead of Gorka Iraizoz as he tried to slap the ball away and bundled it over the line from three yards out.

The celebration lasted a mere second as everyone on and off the pitch fully realized what occurred at the end of that sequence.  As Filipe touched the ball past Iraizoz, Iraizoz dove in a vain effort to divert the ball off its path to goal.  He landed on Filipe’s lower leg, and it was pinned underneath Iraizoz.  Not evident from the initial camera angle the extent of the injury, the second camera angle displayed the gruesome nature of Filipe’s disfigurement.  Sparing the gory details, Filipe Luís Kasmirski will not play for the rest of the season and will likely dash his chances of playing in the World Cup at South Africa for Brazil.  He only had one international cap to his name, a substitute appearance in a friendly against Estonia last August, but Dunga considered the possibility of adding Filipe to the squad.

Filipe’s teammate Zé Castro, looking on from the bench, needed to ask the team on the pitch what exactly transpired, and when he received the news, all he could do was put his hands on his mouth and stare with horror and concern for his fallen friend.  Lotina fought tears as he buried his face into his trembling hands, not the least bit concerned about the match while agonizing over the pain and suffering felt by Filipe.  Chairman and President Augusto César Lendoiro could hardly keep his emotions to a minimum as he rubbed his eyes and observed the ghastly complexion of the situation.  The fans respectfully chanted Filipe’s name, likely knowing that they would not see him on the field again this season.

To Depor’s credit, they channeled their sadness into productivity on the pitch.  They dominated the second half and won a whirlwind encounter 3-1 in a match where European places could be on the line at the end of the season.  The euphoria that Depor would feel after a victory over Athletic Bilbao was tempered by the news that Filipe Luís’ injury was a fractured and dislocated ankle.

Speaking after the match to AS, Augusto Lendoiro lent words of encouragement for Filipe: “Filipe is strong, fast and powerful.  We want a speedy recovery so that he can go to the World Cup.  We have to be strong, and we expect to see him play again this season.  We are only thinking about his misfortune, and not a possible replacement.”

Miguel Ángel Lotina, blunt by nature, spoke to AS about the impact of Filipe’s loss: “I would rather have just twenty points and Filipe fit.  Filipe is a great person and he was eager to go to the World Cup.  There is nothing to celebrate tonight.”

Stating how he would rather be near the relegation zone than have Filipe injured exhibits both the importance and the respect that Lotina has for the Brazilian fullback. With the loss of Filipe, their best and most valuable player this campaign, for the rest of the season, Deportivo La Coruña’s players will need to dig deeper into their souls to make up for his loss and maintain their position in the league.

The captain Manuel Pablo will likely move from his natural right back position to fill Filipe’s shoes at left back, and Laure will likely take the mantle at right back.  The four players with the most starts in the league for Depor have been the four defensive starters, and with this sudden change to the back line, the consistency and rhythm that the Depor defense displayed all season will take time to rebuild that same chemistry.  With the pillars crumbling down on the house of Deportivo La Coruña, a second-half slump would not surprise the most ardent of Depor supporters.

The city in which they play, however, has a history of winning despite tremendous odds.  When Napoléon Bonaparte and his invincible French army ran rampant throughout the Western world, his army descended upon A Coruña in the Peninsular War to seize Galicia and cut off British support sailing to the northwest of Spain.  Led by Sinforiano López, A Coruña became the only Galician city to fight off Napoléon’s army successfully, and the French eventually forsook Galicia later in the war.

If this relatively modest city defeated one of the most imperious leaders in human history, surely Deportivo La Coruña can find the inner strength necessary to carry on from their injury woes.  If Depor is able to seize that final Champions League spot, this team will be exalted to those “Super Depor” teams that consistently threatened to win La Liga and European titles.

Pictures of famous Athletic Bilbao players at San Mamés. Photo courtesy of Nicholas McGowan.

Athletic Bilbao would have no problems with the proposed UEFA plan of mandating eight homegrown players in the squad of eighteen for every match or the theoretical 6 + 5 rule, where six players of the starting eleven would have to be eligible for the national team of their club’s country.  Athletic Bilbao refuses to sign anyone not of Basque heritage.  This policy seems out of touch with modern times, as top European teams and minnows of UEFA try to sign the best players within their means, regardless of country or province of origin.  As their record of accomplishment indicates of always staying in the top flight of Spanish football, Bilbao is doing something right.  In the past four years, however, Bilbao finished in the bottom half of the table, including a last gasp win in the final round of the 2006-2007 season to stave off relegation.

Forsaking the cantera plan never entered the minds of the Bilbao boardroom.  These local players from the Basque gelled together in the past few years, taking the best shots from La Liga and many times plummeting onto the canvas.  Under the leadership of manager Joaquín Caparrós, Athletic Bilbao is now in a position to finish in the top half of the table and compete for European places.

Because of their amazing Copa del Rey cup run to the finals, Bilbao earned a spot in the Europa League.  After narrow escapes against Swiss team Young Boys in the third qualifying round and Norwegian outfit Tromsø in the playoff round, they commenced their voyage in the Europa League group stage with a 3-0 thrashing of Austria Wien.  In La Liga, Athletic won their first two matches, narrowly defeating Espanyol at San Mamés 1-0 and dispatching newcomers Xerez 0-1 at Chapín.  Bilbao’s first real test came Sunday against a Villarreal team who was searching for their first win in La Liga after two 1-1 draws with Osasuna and Mallorca.

Both Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal played in the Europa League on Thursday, so they were on equal footing when it came to a quick turnaround.  Villarreal was used to coping with midweek European matches along with their Spanish league responsibilities since they played in European competitions for the past six seasons.  It was Athletic, though, who looked like the fresher of the two teams from the outset.  Villarreal’s intricate passing and possession football were overmatched by Bilbao’s more physical and direct style of play.  Being that Bilbao’s roots derived from immigrant English steel and shipyard workers, Bilbao’s physical style and use of whipping deep crosses and a strong, tough target man should be of no surprise.

Bilbao created most of the first half chances, and they converted on two of these opportunities, giving them a 2-0 lead at halftime.  Villarreal did not have an attempted shot until the 36th minute, and by the end of the half, the Yellow Submarine had two shots total with none of them on goal.  Central defenders Diego Godín and Iván Marcano could not handle the brute strength and the technical skill of Bilbao talisman Fernando Llorente; Gaizka Toquero and David López ran rampant on the wings in support of Llorente; and Igor Gabilondo’s wicked crosses and free kicks created opportunities for his teammates and kept the Villarreal fullbacks in defense rather than making overlapping runs in the attack.

Villarreal manager Ernesto Valverde made a conscious decision to become more direct in the second half to counter Bilbao’s dominance.  This strategy paid off in the 49th minute when Cani scored to cut the deficit in half.  Joan Capdevila’s cross traveled deep into the penalty area, where Joseba Llorente headed the ball into Cani’s path, and Cani smashed it home from twelve yards out.  Despite this development, Bilbao was unfazed and eventually regained their two-goal advantage when Javi Martínez headed in the third goal from a Gabilondo corner in the 59th minute.  Athletic eventually won the match 3-2 and kept their 100% record.

Only La Liga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid share a perfect three for three record with Bilbao, and while no one claims that Bilbao will keep pace with them for the remainder of the season, the swagger is back with this Bilbao team.  Iker Muniain and Isaac Aketxe, both 16 years old, made substitute appearances, 21 year old Javi Martínez scored a goal, 24 year old central defender Fernando Amorebieta effectively phased out Giuseppe Rossi and Joseba Llorente for the most part, and 24 year old Fernando Llorente showed the form that made him a strong candidate for inclusion into the Spanish national team for the 2010 World Cup.

Joaquín Caparrós constructed a team that stayed true to their origins with their direct play while incorporating the highly technical football necessary to compete successfully in La Liga.  Even if Athletic were relegated for the first time in their history, their supporters would not want Athletic to renounce its cantera policy and sell out for some extra wins.  The Basques want their club to be represented by their own, and the young talent that Caparrós brought into the fold promises a budding future for Los Leones.  While the economic inequities between Real Madrid and Barcelona and the rest of La Liga may prevent Athletic Bilbao from consistently challenging for titles as they did in the 1980′s, the Euskaldunak have a team of which they can be proud not just for their heritage but also for their football.