(Football new) There was a party atmosphere in Bilbao on Saturday night, as Athletic Club defeated rivals Real Sociedad 2-1 in the Basque Derby to move, at least temporarily, into third place in LALIGA EA SPORTS. It didn’t matter that Iñaki Williams, the leader of the attack, was away at the Africa Cup of Nations; his replacement Álex Berenguer popped up with two first-half goals to earn Los Leones another three points.
Having taken 41 points from the first 20 matchdays, this year’s Athletic Club is the best in years. The stats prove it, as the club’s only campaigns with better results after 20 rounds of action were in 1942/43, 1955/56, 1982/83 and 1983/84. In each of those four seasons, the Basques went on to win the championship. While winning LALIGA EA SPORTS isn’t the main objective this term, returning to Europe for the first time in six years is a priority and Athletic Club are on course to finish in the European positions, perhaps even in the Champions League spots.
Ernesto Valverde: Reaching 500 LALIGA EA SPORTS matches in style
There are several explanations for Athletic Club’s excellent form, but the main architect is undoubtedly Ernesto Valverde. This is his eighth season in the San Mamés dugout and the second campaign of his third stint in charge, having returned to the club in the summer of 2022. After finishing eighth and just one position away from Europe last season, Valverde’s Athletic Club are flying in 2023/24, with 12 wins, five draws and just three defeats.
What Valverde has achieved since returning to Bilbao is especially impressive considering how few reinforcements have come in through the transfer market. Since the summer of 2022, the only arrivals in Bilbao have been Ander Herrera, Gorka Guruzeta and Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta. Yet, Valverde has turned this squad’s fortunes around by making the right tweaks and by trusting youth.
At 59 years of age and about to turn 60, Valverde is as tactically astute as ever. In Saturday’s Basque Derby, the 11 players on the pitch were perfectly synchronised and able to press together as a unit and then drop off into a low block together too. This seemed to confuse La Real, but it wouldn’t have worked without the perfect coordination of Athletic Club and the hours and hours on the training ground.
After the match, Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil was full of praise for his opposite number and for Athletic Club. “We faced the most in-form team in the division,” he said. “That’s demonstrated by the stats and their play.”
The numbers do show that this current Athletic Club side is playing at a different level. Looking back at Valverde’s three separate stints in charge at San Mamés, the winning percentage since he returned in 2022 is 49%. That’s higher than the 41% of his first stint and the 48% of his middle stint, which many considered to be unsurpassable.
Valverde recently managed his 500th LALIGA EA SPORTS game, a 2-0 victory away at Sevilla FC on January 4th, and was named the LALIGA EA SPORTS Coach of the Month for December. Even after all he has conquered in his career and as a two-time winner of LALIGA EA SPORTS from his time in the FC Barcelona dugout, he is still adding to his list of achievements. By the end of this season, he’ll have overtaken Javier Clemente to enter the top five for most matches coached in Spain’s top tier. And, Valverde is showing no signs of slowing down, meaning his legacy can grow and grow even further.
