Luis Núñez-Villavearán

Updated Thursday, April 4, 2024-23:26

Aguirre, Onaindia, Alberdi, Landeta, Goyado, Uriarte, Garechana and Lanetarzua are their eight surnames. It is normal that

Javier Aguirre

(Mexico City, 1958) is called

El Vasco

. This son of emigrants from two towns in Vizcaya, Guernika and Ispaster, who flew to the North American country to find a life as a merchant, his father, and a piano teacher, his mother, had enough Basque blood to play in the

Athletic Club

. Precisely, the rival tomorrow against his

Mallorca

and the team of which his family is a fan.

However, as he himself admits, as a footballer he never had the quality to reach the Basque club and in Spain he was only able to play 13 games for

Osasuna

because he later suffered a broken tibia and fibula. His replacement, by the way, was the Englishman

Michael Robinson

.

Aguirre

always expressed his intention of not becoming a coach once he hung up his boots, as he revealed in an interview in La Cope. Almost three decades and more than 850 games later, the statements of a coach who, at 42 years old, also said that he would retire at 50 and is now 65, cannot be taken very seriously.

His journey as a coach covers 14 cities and seven countries. He has rarely been offered a winning project. As he himself jokes, he has more relegations than titles, which has generated a humility in him that means that he does not consider himself anywhere close to technicians like

Guardiola

,

Ancelotti

or

Klopp

.

His history is very extensive. If we talk about national teams,

Aguirre

coached Mexico twice, once against Japan and once against Egypt. Regarding clubs,

El Vasco

has gone through:

Atlante

,

Pachuca

and

Monterrey

in Mexico,

Al Wahda

in the United Arab Emirates and in Spain,

Leganés, Zaragoza, Espanyol, Atlético

de Madrid,

Mallorca

and

Osasuna

, the team with which he achieved the most glory in our country.

In the four years he was there, he managed to qualify the rojillos for the

Champions League

qualifiers and for the UEFA Cup, finished fourth in a League and reached that Copa del Rey final against

Betis,

which they lost in extra time in the 2004/05 season. His achievements gave him the opportunity to win the award for best coach in the Spanish league for UEFA in 2006.

Fate gives him a new opportunity this Saturday. The opportunity to once again achieve the feat achieved by that Mallorca of

Eto'o, Pandiani

or

Miguel Ángel Nadal

. Who won the title against

Recreativo de Huelva

at the Martínez Valero by three goals to zero in the 2002/03 Copa del Rey.

Palmares

Aguirre

has only achieved one Mexican First Division title with Pachuca, in 1999, a Concacaf Gold Cup with Mexico in 2009, a La Liga Cup and two President's Cups with Al

Wahda

between 2016 and 2017 and a League Concacaf champions with

Monterrey

in 2021. Despite his humility, it is not a bad record for

El Vasco

either .

Whatever happens,

Aguirre

will face the result with a smile. Like the one he and his players exhibited before the penalty shootout with which they managed to eliminate

Real Sociedad

. The one that lets him know that in football you lose much more than you win and that, when he returns home, he will be encouraged by his wife Silvia, a very football fan and with whom he has been for 45 years, his children, one a lawyer, another a journalist and a representative of footballers and, recently, also a granddaughter.