The harsh and cruel truth of Athletic

I still remember the call of a former Athletic president when the signing of Iñigo Martínez by the rojiblanco club became official. He did not fully understand, no matter how much Guardiola’s City had deposited in the 65 million of Laporte’s termination clause in the coffers of Ibaigane, that almost half of such a modest income was left for the txuri urdin club. “We strengthened the neighborhood,” he said diplomatically.

The truth is that ondarrutarra went to Bilbao to play every year in Europe and now he is packing his bags for Barcelona,​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ continental tournament. The paradoxes of soccer. Had he stayed in Donostia, the left-footed central defender would soon be playing as txuri urdin in the Champions League after some previous appearances in the Europa League.

noticeable difference

Beyond the wrath of that president or Iñigo Martínez’s new club, it would be convenient to reflect on the difference that now exists between Athletic and Real. Imanol’s is in fourth position in the table with 20 points more than Valverde’s lions. It’s boring.

The problem does not end there. The situation is even worse at the First RFEF level. The Real branch, which entered the playoffs for promotion to LaLiga SmartBank, a league from which it had just been relegated, finished the regular competition in fifth place with 60 points. Bilbao Athletic fell to the Second RFEF as the bottom team with 26 points, 34 less than the San Sebastian team.

If you look at Iruña, Osasuna is also ahead of Athletic in the League, Cup and First RFEF. The landscape is what it is. It is not a question, at least now, of making value judgments, but of proving the harsh and cruel truth while knowing, yes, that in the lower categories the same conditions do not exist, at least now.