Iker Muniain enters the first competitive break of the season as the third player in Athletic history with the most official matches played in the red and white shirt. The captain of the Bilbao team has accumulated a total of 538 games as a lion to date. The legendary José Ángel Iribar, the Txopo, and the now deceased Txetxu Rojo lead Navarrese footballers in this prestigious ranking.
Muniain is only three strokes away from the late Rojo I. The current Athletic captain has before him, therefore, the possibility of matching and even surpassing the once great left-footed winger once the Liga resumes next term. of the week and suffer a second break on October 15. To do this, the Navarrese must participate in at least four of the five crashes included between one competitive interruption and another.
Muniain, as seen, has 541 matches of Txetxu Rojo at his fingertips. Reaching first place, held by Iribar with 614, seems more complicated, although not impossible. Everything depends on the future of the Athletic captain himself at the Bilbao club because for now the only certainty is that his contract as a Lion will expire on June 30.
Valverde, at least so far in this campaign, has everything to captain the team. In the opening match against Real Madrid at San Mamés he put him in the starting eleven, but took him off at half-time to bring on Sancet with a score of 0–2. A day later, on the occasion of the Bilbao team’s visit to El Sadar, the Athletic coach chose the tall red-and-white midfielder first and left Muniain on the bench.
The captain, despite sacking Sancet with the score at 0-2 and warming up for a few minutes in the second half, spent the entire match against Osasuna on the bench, because the coach of the Bilbao team opted for something missing one to give. entrance to Ander Herrera. His presence did not go unnoticed by red fans, even in a certain sector. The alternative selected by the coach.
The sanction imposed by the Competition on Sancet for his double yellow at El Sadar forced Valverde to change his starting eleven against Betis at San Mamés. Muniain, in the manner and manner of what happened two days before Madrid, played as a midfielder, this time behind Guruzeta. Navarrese was replaced in the 66th minute, with the score 3-2, by Berenguer.
The next day, with Sancet in position to line up again, Valverde opted to use the tall midfielder for the lions’ visit to Mallorca. At game time, however, Muniain came into his place. The red and white captain became one of the references of the attack of the lions, although the match ended as it began (0-0).
Calendar of lions
When the current competition ends, five commitments await the captain to reach the next one. If he participates in the first three matches, Muniain will become the second player in Athletic history with the most official matches played in the red and white shirt on September 27 in San Mamés against Getafe. The second place on the podium he will share with Rojo I.
The possibility of being left alone behind Iribar will have to be postponed until September 30 for the derby against Real in Donostia. If not, and having participated in three matches before Anoeta, Muniain will have one last chance before the second break against Almería in San Mamés.
Matches against Cádiz (next Saturday in San Mamés), Alavés (Friday the 22nd in Mendizorrotza) and Getafe (September 27 in San Mamés) could be worth Muniain, if he is lined up by Valverde, to equalize Txetxu Rojo; and the last from Anoeta, to surpass him. It all depends, of course, on the coach’s plans and that there is no injury involved.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
