Valverde’s untouchables

Two players from the Athletic squad remain out of the rotations applied by Valverde so far this year with League matches interspersed with Cup matches. Both left last season, the one when the Gasteiz coach returned to the Bilbao bench, labeled as the third and fourth central defender, but now it seems that they cannot be replaced due to the departure of Iñigo Martínez from Barça, the continued which are physical problems that prevent Yeray from being available and, let’s face it, his high performance. So far in the red and white eleven, regardless of the current competition, Vivian and Paredes always play.

The defender from Gasteiz has started 24 consecutive league games. Four of them correspond to the last campaign and the remaining 20 to the current campaign. The delay of this long chain of presence in the eleven within the so-called regularity tournament is due to the expulsion suffered during the visit of Betis to San Mamés of the 2022-23 League. From then until now he has been a fixture in Valverde’s lineups, as in the current edition of the Cup he had minutes with Rubí and was present in the starting eleven against Eibar and Alavés.

In fact, Vivian is the player on the Athletic squad who has accumulated the most minutes in the red and white jersey so far this season. The gasteiztarra power plant is on the verge of the 2,000 minute barrier. His 1,972 minutes (1,779 in the League and 193 in the Cup) put him above Unai Simón. The international goalkeeper of the Bilbao team has all the KOs and always stays on the bench.

ask for a way

Paredes has yet to reach 1,800 minutes as an Alavés goalkeeper, but he is close to the said record. The Bilbao center back, in fact, has 1,787 between the League (1,607) and the Cup (180). Nobody seems to expect him to be part of Athletic’s defensive axis, but his numbers and, above all, his performance are there. From May 1 of last year, when he jumped on the Son Moix pitch with the number 31 on his back, until last Saturday, in the derby against Real in San Mamés with the number 4 left by Iñigo Martínez on his shirt; The Arrigorriaga centre-back has taken part in each of the last 28 league matches, 26 of them as a starter.

This route has the double added merit of getting it in reference to two problems that arise throughout it. Some back problems gave him a lot of trouble at certain stages of the League, but through treatment, sacrifice and stamina he overcame them without missing an appointment. Paredes, on the other hand, received four warnings since matchday 11, when Valencia visited San Mamés.