Gora Athletic!

By: Elisa | April 8th, 2008

Hi! Hola, que tal? This is my first post on the Athletic Bilbao blog. Some of you may know me from my weekly podcast Forza Futbol and that I am a Madridista. Truth be it, I love La Liga and I am an extreme blog addict. It’s been a dream of mine to be part of the Offside and I have always had a soft spot for Los Leones del Bilbao. Why you might ask? Well it’s kinda ancestoral or rather Jungian. My great great grans are Basque or Vascos, there’s no way around it with family names like Uranga, Irigoyen, Gardea and Montiel. It’s in the blood!

That said, let’s talks some football…

Athletic have had a surprising, fabulous season this year. Only 7 games left and we are in 8th place with some tough games coming up.

Deportivo La Coruña - away
Valencia at San Mames
Real Madrid - away
Mallorca at home
Murcia - away
Racing at home
Sevilla - away

In my estimation, we have 5 difficult games and 2 fairly winnable ones. Yes! we are safe on 42 points, but we can’t get complacent.

Who do we have to thank for this stellar year to date?

Hatchet man at the back -

Our two hard men as nails defenders, Aitor Ocio and Amorbieta. Yes, they are top in the league for accumulated red and yellow cards, but ya gotta love them. We have one of the strongest defense in the league with our take no prisoners attitude. And ladies, they are very hot to boot!

Youngsters coming good -

Llorente, Javi Garcia and Susaeta. God I love these kids. Being Bilbao, with our Vasco only policy, we have to strongly rely on our youth. And these three gents are playing with heart and passion. Stay away Madrid, Barça and all you big clubs! These boys are loyal to the core.

Resident Guru - Manager Joaquin Caparros -

Caparros has made los rojiblancos believe in the club and the cause. Europe is a bit too early for our team, in my opinion, but 8th or 9th place would be fantastic at the end of the season. It’s incredible to think we won’t be fighting relegation this year. Phew!

Veterans at the helm lifting the team to great heights -

Joseba Exteberria, Fran Yeste, and Aduriz have all been solid this year and instrumental at making this team flourish. Finally a strong balance between experience and youth has clicked this year. It’s about damn time!

I am so proud of this team and what they have accomplished to date this year. We are commited to our Basque only policy, unlike our closest rivals now in Second division. As a founding member of La Liga, who has never been relegated, we can continue with pride looking forward to our future stadium and keep plucking away. We are currently, one of the top teams in form in La Liga, at a perfect time. Yes, we still play the long ball and we like to rough and tumble, but we are having a cracker of a season!

What do you think has contributed to our great season thus far? What would you like to see happen at the club? I’d love to hear from you and what you think of the blog thus far.

Hasta!