• Controversy: The angry criticisms of Setién's assistant to his players: "He does nothing to do"

On the same day that Quique Setién was introduced as Barcelona's new coach, a Barca manager, seeing Eder Sarabia , the coach's assistant, asked: “Isn't he the one they always expelled when he was at Betis? Well this is Barça ». The chascarrillo of the gerifalte, between the chanza and the suspicion, has been propagated both by the offices of the Camp Nou and by the training camps of the Joan Gamper Sports Center. The personality of Eder Sarabia, acceptable in any club that does not have the media attention of Barcelona, ​​has returned to claim the focus after the #Vamos cameras recorded complaints against their players on the bench of the Bernabéu. "Nothing that does not happen in any team, a passionate coach who wants to win," say Barca club sources, who, however, also warn: "In large teams, players do not miss anything."

Let's go back to the beginning, to the point where what we call character is molded. Eder Sarabia is the son of an Athletic legend, Manu Sarabia (382 games in 12 seasons with the rojiblancos). «If Setién says that he would have given a finger for playing at Barça de Cruyff, I would have shaken hands for being a footballer », Eder used to say. His career was short. At 24 he had already retired and prepared to practice as a coach.

He met Quique Setién when he had not yet reached 10 years . His father and Setién were playing at the Logroñés at that time, and Eder tried to get closer to training and matches. Years later, and thanks to Manu Sarabia's relationship with the former Racing midfielder, Eder was able to work as a monitor on the summer campuses of Setién. Then he would get the opportunity to train the Villarreal youth, where Setien used to go, accompanied by Manu, to follow the boy's evolutions.

13 RUE DEL PERCEBE

Until Setién, once he left Lugo, he recruited him for his experience in Las Palmas. The then coach of the subsidiary, Manolo Márquez , remembers that stage for EL MUNDO. «That seemed like the comic by Francisco Ibáñez 13 Rue del Percebe. The president had a building and he put us all to live there. Setién was on the second floor. I lived in the 2nd, and Eder in the 2nd. Door to door », recalls Márquez, who would later take charge of the first team in 2017.

The relationship was daily. "We got along very well. Eder is a boy who listens to you. And as for the professional aspect, in technical matters it is excellent. In Barcelona he is showing more or less the same as in Las Palmas or later in Betis. He is very nervous. It intervenes a lot, it also does it in training. Maybe sometimes it's very vehement. But not because he has a desire for prominence, it is more because of his way of being. He doesn't want to figure .

An explosive that has cost him six expulsions since he shares a ship with Setién. And now Barcelona players are discovering. Nothing is new to Manolo Márquez: « We have all done this. But it is true that, increasingly, the player supports less such criticism. Even more so if they are made public. And if you are in a large team, even worse. It is possible that this bothers a Barça player more than one of Las Palmas or Betis. But there is no bad intention. That is evident.

'Cruyffista', passionate about cycling and strategist

Eder Sarabia, 39, is one of the main responsible for finding solutions to the exit of the ball from the position of Ter Stegen, one of the hallmarks of Setién's team. He has also been responsible since he arrived at Camp Nou for strategy actions. It is he who orders in the plays with the ball stopped while Setién waits on the bench. Admirer of Cruyff's 'Dream Team', he still has a Laudrup shirt and a Zubizarreta shirt. Although his other great passion is cycling, whose tests also follow with special attention. Images of the late Kobe Bryant or tennis player Rafa Nadal populate his active cyber profile.

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  • Quique Setién
  • Rafael Nadal
  • Santander Racing
  • Kobe Bryant
  • Lugo
  • Las Palmas

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