A stranger in the football circus: "Valverde likes football. Not what surrounds him"

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Ernesto Valverde

could not stop working on the morning of May 7, 2019, hours before Barcelona had to defend a 3-0 win at Anfield that left them one step away from the Champions League final.

He was alone in his room at the Liverpool Hilton Hotel.

He reviewed images.

He cut them up and put them back together.

But he didn't have enough.

He had to keep searching, as if he were trying to catch the frame of an impossible photograph.

He was fighting to avoid a destiny that he himself had already seen in the faces of his soccer players.

And of which the

was not aware.

His team fell 4-0, leaving that fall knotted with the one suffered a year before in Rome (3-0).

They were the only two defeats for Valverde in 28 Champions League games.

What difference does it make.

Failure is not allowed in football.

Valverde never tried to defend himself.

He always rejected propaganda.

And he didn't change his attitude with the players either.

Some of them had already spoken on the phone with

, without noticing that the one who would end up arriving would be

.

Before, yes, Valverde had to experience a deferred dismissal.

And bizarre.

It was after a Spanish Super Cup that Barça should have played against Valencia de

, but that, after the intermediation of one of its players,

, ended up in Saudi Arabia.

That tournament was won by Real Madrid.

And a defeat against Atlético, the rival in the semifinals, and despite the Barça starring in an excellent game, triggered the condemnation.

and

were hunted down in Qatar to meet Xavi's refusal.

And Valverde, the night before he was fired, executed on January 13, 2020 and with Barcelona leading a League that has not won again, he just wanted that nonsense to end.

"Helps grow at all levels"

The sources consulted for the preparation of this report agree on the same point.

Valverde finished exhausted.

He had a hard time deciphering the little common sense that cannibalizes football, and he needed to stop.

Walk away.

No trauma, yes.

Without suffering the own torments of the coach that he is left without a job.

He could dedicate his time to that life that football so often denies the professional.

So he returned to Bilbao with his wife and three children.

There he was able to make more of an effort with the bicycle, on which he tried to disconnect during his time at Barcelona, ​​always semi-hidden under a cap.

He also rediscovered that camera that he learned to handle at the IEFC in Barcelona during his time as a Espanyol player, and with which he tried to capture the football fan from that side that nobody notices.

From the perspective of the coach, who is applauded one day, and disowned the other.

He was even able to pluck his guitar strings.

Two and a half years of decompression that explain the present.

During that time of voluntary hiatus, Valverde, in addition to publishing

, his second photography book (in 2012

was published ), exhibited a collection of photographs under the title

("The Other Side").

, project manager at the Athletic Club Foundation, did not hesitate to welcome her.

"It is a luxury to have as a coach someone who considers culture to be a fundamental part of personal development, who has such a broad perspective. It is one of the secrets of his success, helping everyone grow at all levels. that we are around them: players, employees and coaches", congratulates the also writer and referential figure at the crossroads between football and culture.

Valverde is passionate about social photography, that of international figures such as the Japanese

and the Swedish

, but he cannot separate himself from what is close,

,

or

.

Valverde, during his last photo exhibition.ATHLETIC CLUB

Before finishing his journey at Olympiacos, where he is still treated like an earthly god, Valverde was able to exhibit some of those photos.

The president of the Piraeus club bought several from him.

He didn't say anything, but the money went to soup kitchens in Athens.

In his sabbatical, Valverde only got excited twice about coaching a team again.

He had a videoconference meeting with Manchester United just after

was sacked , coinciding with the

' visit to Villarreal in November 2021. Valverde would have loved to train at Old Trafford for six months, but

was chosen. .

Leeds also approached him before

was fired.

Soccer trails are twisted.

Valverde liked the proposal, but he did not come to fruition.

The return to Athletic, in any case, was in his head.

The challenge of starting his third stage on the bench motivated him.

Before the last presidential elections, the young entrepreneur

asked him to return to San Mamés.

He did not demand exclusivity, so

also signed up.

The other candidate,

, opted for

.

Valverde promised to sit down to negotiate once the elections were over and, after Uriarte's victory, he ended up signing for a single year.

The club will have to deal with his renewal from January 2023.

I would love for him to be the one to break the record that I have with the two Athletic Leagues

Xavier Clement

"I did my best so that Ernesto returned to Athletic and Bielsa did not. Why? Bielsa is not a coach for Athletic. He spent two years and did nothing. We were about to go down".

Who speaks is

, surpassed precisely by Valverde as the coach with the most matches directed at Athletic (317 compared to 289 by the Barakaldo coach).

"It doesn't bother me at all that he has surpassed me. I am also very happy that it was Ernesto. I had him as a player at Espanyol, I was the one who took him to the First Division, then I was also the one who let him go to Barça as footballer. And I'm glad he succeeds. He trains the team that I want. I hope Ernesto wins two Leagues like the ones I won. I would love it if he were the one who managed to break the record that I have," Clemente extends, with the "I" as tagline.

He nicknamed Valverde

("ant"), after a small boat that he had then.

"I didn't ask him if he liked the nickname, but he was pretty. Like the boat, he was tiny.

"Valverde is happy. It's been a long time since we've seen him," say those who know him. "He wears a dressing room in which everyone is with him.

If he tells his players to go head first into a wall, they do it."

"With much more grounds"

Valverde, moreover, with a left hand, had no problem with his footballers continuing to work with

, the psychologist from

's stage , important in the emotional work after the defeats in the last Cup finals.

"This third stage is taken by Ernesto with much more determination. It is an opportunity to use all his experience, and you are seeing an Athletic that is evolving a lot", intervenes

, present at various times in Valverde's career and who helped him in understanding the game since the time when he was second to

at San Mamés.

"What Ernesto likes is the essence of football, the development of the team, the evolution of the players. But not what surrounds him. He is not a participant in it," continues Amorrortu.

Clemente replies: "He has been two and a half years without training because he has wanted to rest. He is a peculiar man. He has his hobbies, his customs. I cannot rest, because what I like is training."

Valverde, the day he was fired as coach of Barça.EFE

"He is a very calm coach, very peaceful, clever and astute. Whoever considers that he may have regretted that he has not been publicized more is because he sees it in a negative way. But his career has been extraordinary. At Barcelona they must have regretted the botched they did kicking him out and signing Quique Setién. Between Valverde and Setién there is an abysmal difference," says Clemente, who goes into a rage when he talks about some of the explanations that served to argue his dismissal at the Camp Nou: "Nobody with two fingers Up front you can say that when Ernesto was at Barcelona he wasn't offensive. That's a lie. Another thing is that perhaps, especially in the Champions League, he should have been more conservative."

Asked if he likes Athletic's current game, Clemente, who is one of those who does not give gratuitous praise, states: "Well... There are days that I like it more and days that I like it less. I am a fan of Athletic, and I don't give anything."

Finally, after being lazy, he concedes: "But yes, I think he's playing well this year."

Valverde, meanwhile, insists on that calm demeanor, so strange in football that requires hysteria, artifice and pose.

Amorrortu concludes: "Ernesto has his emotions. But he doesn't show them. Inside, like everyone else, he has his demons."

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