I was at the Basque derby in Anoeta, late on a rainy Sunday night in San Sebastian. After all the bad publicity there has been regarding supporters and the seemingly endless list of mutual antipathies that exist in Spain among rival groups, it was pleasant to attend a game where the police presence was conspicuous by its absence. In fact, for this derby which pits Real Sociedad with Athletic Bilbao (its 134th edition), the police usually take the day off. The visiting supporters traditionally arrive in the late morning, and head to the bars of the Old Town where they drink and banter with the locals, and all is generally tickety-boo.
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There has rarely been any trouble on these occasions, and although there is a healthy rivalry between the two clubs, and the cities of Bilbao and San Sebastián are very different, this derby affords one of the rarest sights in Europe now – with local and visiting supporters sitting side-by-side. Without wishing to sound too sentimental, or convert football into something anodyne, this is surely the example to follow. There are many local derbies in Spain where hostility remains the byword. David Moyes, Real Sociedad’s new manager, knows all about intra-city rivalry in England, but here was experiencing something slightly different.
Neither side was coming into the game on a particularly healthy note, however. David Moyes had experienced his first La Liga defeat last week at Villarreal (4-0), and Athletic had surprisingly lost at home to bottom club Cordoba. Ernesto Valverde, Athletic’s manager and ex-player, had never won at Anoeta, either dressed in shorts or suit. In fact this 134th derby was unique in the fact that it was the first time that the two premier Basque sides had met in the league with neighbours Eibar positioned above them. Eibar’s excellent 0-0 draw at Sevilla, two hours before the derby, guaranteed that this fact would stick.
Moyes has enjoyed a reasonable start to life in La Liga, has started Spanish classes and seems to be enjoying the new challenge, although there are features of the Spanish game which clearly baffle him. Two weeks ago, he informed the local press that he wanted to see his team ‘get stuck in’ (my translation but that was more or less his message). When his team did just that, they were constantly pulled up by the referee. Moyes complained afterwards that there was hardly any physical contact permitted – but he should really have known that before he packed his suitcases. Getting stuck in, in Spanish terms, requires all manner of subterfuge and a particular way of tackling – not the British ‘up-and-at’em’ way. Neither is it necessarily the best way to prosper here, although it can help to build up intensity – which is what Moyes wants. And all this in a week when Real Madrid’s Pepe has been ‘outed’ as the cleanest centre-back in the entire league, with only five fouls to his name all season and not a single yellow card. It’s a mad mad world when the stereotypes start to fail us.
Sociedad got off to a rather good start, scoring after three minutes from a header by Carlos Vela, and it was looking rosy for the home side. Athletic were struggling in midfield and couldn’t keep hold of Vela, whose tail was up. The Icelandic forward Alfred Finnbogasson should have scored a second, blowing his chance to open his account with the club, but Vela continued to slalom through the visiting defence at will.
Vela is a curious case. Brought over from Mexico as a teenager to Arsenal, he never quite fitted in, possibly more for personal reasons than for his quality as a footballer, but after a series of failed loans (to Celta, Salamance, Osasuna and West Brom) he arrived at Real Sociedad in 2011, in a final attempt by Arsenal to make a player of him. Something clicked, Vela scored 12 goals in 35 games and generally endeared himself to the club, for whom he has now signed a permanent deal – Arsenal finally waiving their right to re-claim him in the summer. It was clear that Arsene Wenger had realised that his prodigal son had come of age, but Vela’s own reluctance to return to London swung the deal in Sociedad’s favour.
Vela is a slightly strange fish, happy in the beautiful city of San Sebastian and up to recently, uninterested in the calls from the Mexican national team for him to return, after being suspended from the national squad for six months after allegedly organising a party for the Mexican players after a game against Colombia in 2010. He even decided against playing in the last World Cup – every player’s dream, but apparently not a big deal for Vela. And yet beyond the squads of the big three, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético, there is surely no better player in La Liga. You wonder when one of the big sides will finally come in for him, but even if they do, there is no guarantee that he will want to leave San Sebastian, a place where he feels happy and cared for, after so much fruitless wandering.
He’s a fascinating player – an Arsenal type in terms of his footballing intelligence, small, stocky and apparently without a great deal of pace, but able to suddenly accelerate from zero and turn on a euro, fiendishly able to change direction at will and almost impossible to knock off the ball. He hangs around in the space behind the striker, dropping off to either wing and generally creates havoc whenever he has the ball in space. He was the second most-fouled player in La Liga last season, and his ability to earn opposing players yellow cards is legendary. There are some supporters at Real Sociedad who insist that he is the best player they’ve seen in the colours, which is praise indeed, but to bring him back down to earth, Athletic coped better with him in the second half, and cut off the supply lines. De Marcos scored an excellent equaliser, and after Aymeric Laporte was sent off, Athletic settled for the draw. Both sides will be looking for wins next week, in order to rest happily over the Christmas break.
Elsewhere, Real Madrid scored four again, this time on Friday night in Almería, the eighth time they have scored four or more in the league this season (they managed eight at Deportivo in September, just to ensure the average) and have flown to Morocco to play in the FIFA Club World Cup this week with 20 consecutive wins under the belts, in all competitions. They may well extend the run, it would seem. Barcelona, meanwhile, stumbled at Getafe and drew 0-0, leaving their white rivals with a potential four-point lead for Christmas.
Tonight’s win extends @realmadrid‘s unbeaten run to 20 games, having scored 75 goals and conceded just 10. #SSNHQ pic.twitter.com/a5AoyiVknS
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) December 12, 2014
Santa Claus has come early for Carlo Ancelotti and company, because Atlético also got the wobbles, losing 0-1 at home to in-form Villarreal, beaten by a goal from the rising Argentinean star Luciano Vietto, a player ironically handed his debut by Atlético manager Diego Simeone when he was boss at Racing de Avellaneda. As the Spanish say, Simeone’s face was a ‘poem’ in the 86th minute, when Vietto struck. Atlético shouldn’t be too worried, since they met Villarreal at the wrong time – a team high on confidence, and playing some of the best football in the category. They could even lift themselves into a Champions League spot, if they win next week at home to Deportivo. It’s all warming up nicely for the short winter break.
