Athletic Bilbao’s Iker Muniain had Barcelona, ​​San Mames at his feet in an unforgettable ‘magic,’ night

“San Mames is magic,” Iker Muniain said, and the feeling is mutual.

It was late, everyone was exhausted, and a night had passed: as good as one could remember and too good to forget. The rain was pouring down the way it was supposed to fall on San Mames, what they called “Church”, and after 120 minutes the bodies crumbled, Athletic Bilbao just defeated Barcelona 3-2 at the Copa del Rey. The night that the first thing Athletic coach Marcelino Garcia Toral thought to say when he showed up after the game was: “Thanks for letting me live it,” a “magical” occasion would stay with him. “as long as I. direct.”

In the noise at the end, their captain is trying to make himself heard, which is almost hard to stand on. If someone pushed a wheelchair for him, it would be welcome. When he’s done, after midnight, you’d almost expect him to crawl back into the tunnel. But the feelings for it were greater than all, so empty that they were full, and it carried them with them.

“The satisfaction you experience is immense,” Munian said. “San Mames is magic, magic. I’m so lucky to play here, to have that feeling run through your body.”

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When the final whistle blew, Muniain lay on the pitch, arms outstretched to a star. Almost the first touch of the game is his. He blundered a perfect shot past Marc Andre ter-Stegen, twirling, twisting and plunging from a difficult angle to open the scoring at 99 seconds. That moment was so long ago. and a lot has happened since then, down to the final touch of the whole thing. It’s also Muniain’s, and there’s something about it that feels right. One thing is for sure: it’s not just a coincidence.

For a week, Athletic played Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid and now Barcelona. They beat Atletico and Barcelona. Between those matches, they were defeated by Real Madrid in the Spanish Supercopa final. In the end, they stood and applauded their opponents in a move that caused many to applaud again. A photo taken from the back of Muniain by Pablo Garcia, showing the captain standing with his runner-up shield under his arm and medallion around his neck, watching. Ten months ago, Garcia took a similar one: now at the end of the national cup final with Real Sociedad.

Athletic have played four finals in a year – two Supercopas, two Copas del Rey – but they have lost the last three. Muniain couldn’t stop crying after losing to Real Sociedad. He also clung, like all of them, to their only success in the Supercopa last season: for Athletic, the Supercopa was important, and reaching that final was an achievement. That’s what he and they asserted after Sunday’s loss to Madrid – and not without reason either. There’s a reality they have to face, a reality they’re willing to accept: Their “Basque-only” hiring policy carries with them limitations they’re all aware of.

Four days later, they try to bounce back and move on, looking to make it to another final. Barcelona were defeated to set up another meeting with Madrid in the quarter-finals on February 3 (3:30 p.m. ET, live stream on ESPN+). And Muniain knows what that means.

“I may have passed up the chance to win loads of trophies, but I’d always rather win one trophy here than five Champions League at another club,” he said. When he was a kid, Barcelona and Osasuna came home to sign him but Muniain wanted to join Athletic. When he last renewed his contract, he removed the buyback clause, no need or wanted anything. At the signing, he wore a T-shirt with the tagline on it, borrowed from Matt Le Tissier, whom Athletic celebrated, handing him the first of what is now the One award. The usual Club Man. T-shirts are sold in the club shop, and the tagline runs: “Playing for the best clubs is a great challenge, but there’s a harder challenge: play them and beat them. I devote himself to this mission.”

On Thursday night, the Athletic Club and Muniain did exactly that. He helped get them over the line.

When asked about Muniain’s performance on Thursday night, Marcelino smiled. It wouldn’t be fair to drop an individual player when everyone was playing very well, he said, and he was right. They are all great: Nico Williams, Inigo Martinez, Yuri Berchiche, Alex Berenguer, all of them. But he couldn’t do otherwise. Munian’s performance was “awesome,” he said.

It’s a word, and it’s true, but it may not be enough. It’s really hard to recall an all-around good individual game over a long period of time, from anyone.

Muniain scored the first goal. It was his free-kick, brilliantly executed, that led to the second goal. And then he scored the third. It was just a penalty, sure, but then: stop?! Athletic took the lead until the last minute, captured by PedalTheir late equalizer, and already into extra time, the pressure increased and the feeling of excruciating pain in their legs. “Those are tense moments. You have to make good choices,” he said of the penalty. With him Gerard Pique trying to brush him off, there is a word. “I couldn’t hear him: it was very loud,” Muniain grinned later. Ter Stegen went one way, Muniain went the other and Athletic took the lead again, who scored the goal.

Not just this performance. This season, Muniain if ranked fifth in LaLiga When it comes to assists, that doesn’t sound like much, but he’s first in total – in other words, clear chances are created, even when they’re not. performed afterwards. And by mile. His total of 60 is fifteen clear of anyone, Nabil Fekir the player closest to him. He’s in the top 10 for perfect dribbling.

Perhaps the most notable stat is that he’s still only 29. It feels like he’s been around forever, in a way, he has. He first joined the first team in pre-season training at the age of 14 and played his first game at 16 years and 7 months – against Young boys, that’s very pleasant. A week later, he scored. No one has scored in Europe earlier. It was nine years since he debuted for Spain, friendly. But he only played again, seven years later, and three years ago now.

There’s always something special about him, despite the occasional projection of how good a player he is. will rather than a reflection of how good he is To be becomes a problem, setting the bar too high and distorting judgments. There were periods when he was not the player some would have predicted. Injuries are definitely a problem too: twice he tore his knee ligaments, missed more than 60 games in two games, the last of which was in 2018. Take a look at the basic stats. and it speaks to a stability that has only really been interrupted by injury: 28, 31, 34, 14, 35, 20, 25, 35, 33, 33, 35 and 26 games played each season since first season.

He has started more games than anyone else at Athletic this season. A little unnoticed, perhaps, he was brilliant. Once nicknamed Bart Simpson, the era of naughty youth is no longer the era he identified with, and while his talent has always been there, he’s now as brilliant as ever. . Playing nominally on the left of four, he has a free hand inside where Marcelino says he can get more involved – and the more ball he has, the better. Only one Athletic player completed more passes. He has more interference Luka Modric.

The manager accepted him, a burgeoning relationship with certain similarities to the already formed relationship between Marcelino and Dani Parejo in Valencia. They talk often: about tactics and techniques. Physically – one of Marcelino’s great obsessions – he is better than before. Other, too. There was a maturity, a leadership, a perception there that was now very evident on Thursday night, which is why it wasn’t really the headline moments that defined the screen. this show. It’s not goals or assists (before). That’s all of it.

“He reads the game; tactically, he’s very good; decision-making; technical ability… brutal,” said Marcelino. “And on top of that, a colossal, constant presence. Incredibly complete.”

And if there’s one moment that helps illustrate that, it’s not a goal, assist or penalty; maybe that’s what happened in the end, accepting risks and responsibilities, finding a way to keep them all safe. The way he got them over the line, OK, leave it to me. The moment in the 117th minute when he plunged into a corner with no way out and found a way out. When he goes around, leaves Frenkie de Jong behind and Nico Gonzalez on the floor. The moment where he did pretty much the same thing again in 120 minutes. And again on 121.

“In moments where there are no long legs and heavy feet, I try to hold the ball to let the team breathe, time goes by and the game dies there with us having the ball,” he said, and rightly so. so. When the final whistle finally sounded on a night none of them could ever forget, a captain and coach would call magic, the ball was at Muniain’s feet and so was the San Mames.