Iribar turns 80 remembering that he could have been from Barça

“Andoni is right, Ángel is not the legendary Athletic goalkeeper, Ángel is Athletic, the club itself,” he says. ernesto valverde, current coach of the rojiblancos. “Ángel is inseparable from the history of Athletic, the club, what it represents, what he has lived through. He is someone unconditional of all of us who work daily in Lezama. He is always there, he comes every day, he is there for good and bad, helping and criticizing, Ángel never fails & rdquor ;.

angel, a legend

Then we’ll talk about what ‘Zubi’ thinks of ‘Chopo’, since he has just recorded a wonderful ‘podcast’ with Iribar that the Sonora production company will broadcast next week, a delight to talk about, but let’s stick with it. ‘Txingurri’. “We are all, we could say, in the good sense of the word, Iribar’s subjects, because we all look at him, daily, with admiration, with the reverence he deserves, which one must have for someone who simply flies over our heads. heads protecting the Athletic community with their presence and wisdom.”

“What am I going to say about Iribar? & rdquor ;, he wonders javier clemente, former two-time champion with Athletic. “Well, he was one of the best goalkeepers in history, who defended the area like no one else, who had a unique, impressive vision of the defensive game, who dominated the entire area, who sensed crosses and avoided shots. He was not great, no, he is a legend & rdquor ;.

Zubizarreta is, without a doubt, better equipped than anyone to affirm that Iribar “is a friend, a reference, an idol and a teacher& rdquor;. He was Athletic’s goalkeeper from 1962 to 1980. He played more games than any other rojiblanco (614) during the 18 seasons that he wore that black jersey, the color he chose because it was the one worn by his admired rival Lev Yashingoalkeeper of the Russia that “Chopo” defeated in the final of the 1964 Euro Cup.

“That day& rdquor;, Iribar explains to ‘Zubi’, “I was a bit on my own. He was tired of seeing him in the NodeWell, I used to see all the ‘nodes’ in the Zarauz cinema, where international matches and the grand finals of the European cups were shown. And, yes, the truth is that I saw fantastic things from him and others not so much, the truth is. But what caught my attention the most, and what I even tried to copy, was his way of serving with his hand, below the waist, rolling the ball, as if he were playing bowling”.

Iribar acknowledges that he tried to learn from everyone because they did not have as much information as they do now. He would look at magazines, movies, the No-Do’s, everything. He liked Yashin, of course, and he loved the gloves, tied with adhesive tape, from the British Gordon Banks. “My first example was araquistain and, of course, carmelwho was the starting goalkeeper when I arrived at Athletic & rdquor ;.

That arrival of Iribar to Athletic, at the end of the 50s, beginning of the 60s, has its meaning, its history, in which Barça intervened. Knowingly, Zubizarreta jokes with Iribar and tells him that he was about to become a Barça player, long before him, of course. “I was at Baskonia and we played a Cup match against Barça, coached by Ladislao Kubala. Ugh! They scored 10 goals for us, although we ended up with 9. At the end of the game, already in the locker room, ‘Uncle Laszi’, which is what everyone in the national team would end up calling him, told me ‘boy, the day you want you can sign for us & rdquor ;. Iribar says that he did not forge that possibility and historians say that, in the end, Athletic paid 3 million pesetas for ‘Chopo’.

‘Zubi’ suggests to Iribar that he tell him how he feels every day when he looks in the mirror and “aside from the gray hair, which we all already wear, you think that the whole world admires you for what you were, for what you are and for what you represent for Athletic”. “Well, you feel very proud, of course, you feel great satisfaction, but everything comes from the club, your teammates, the environment. I, honestly, never considered myself so good. As soon as I stepped foot in Athletic, I discovered wonderful footballers but, above all, magnificent people who, led by captain José Mari Orue, also strove to be exemplary people. And all that, of course, you try to transfer over the years& rdquor ;.

‘Zubi’ and Iribar share those endless ‘things’ about goalkeepers that make them unique. “Perhaps for this reason, there are those who say that we form a union and that we defend ourselves,” says Andoni. “Yes, yes, there is something like that & rdquor ;, adds ‘Chopo’. Both admit that they never feel they have played a great game, even if they had. “You always find, right? & rdquor;, ‘Chopo’ tells ‘Zubi’, “that false start, that doubt, that error… well, things & rdquor;.

And it is there that Zubizarreta tells him one of the thousand anecdotes lived in Lezama when he was learning to be Iribar. “One day, Ángel, Javi (Clemente) reviewed a match with us. Javi really likes the goalkeepers and he was really serious with everyone. As I left Lezama’s locker room towards the training ground, I heard a faint voice behind me calling me. It was you, Ángel, who, looking at me and winking, told me ‘Andoni, don’t worry, we’ll talk later, you and I, only goalkeepers understand goalkeepers.’ And I thought, wow, I thought I had already passed the fat test. And no”

Iribar’s lessons, throughout many, many, of the 80 years he is celebrating today, were, are, very diverse. “Another day”, Zubizarreta continues explaining, “I was justifying myself for a goal that I had conceded or something like that and you, Ángel, looked at me and with a paternal but firm voice, you said to me: ‘Ho, Andoni! No excuses we will never improve. If we have a problem, we look for a solution, but we can’t move forward with excuses. The excuse cannot be a usual argument & rdquor ;.

Iribar says that one of the secrets of a good goalkeeper “is to never give your opponent a second chance. Do what you want, but never give another chance.” Another lesson: you have to block the ball, suck it in, keep it inside. “You can’t block moving forward, as long as you keep it inside.”

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Zubizarreta tells Iribar something very beautiful: “We are goalkeepers of dreaming. In the absence of the great information that we have now, we lived on the imagination & rdquor ;. The ‘Chopo’ admits that, as a boy, as a young man, in addition to escaping to No-Do, he would go to Atochar to see Real. Of course, Iribar acknowledges that he would have loved to play in current times. “Goalkeepers, now, must also be footballers. If you’re not a footballer, if you don’t have footwork, if you don’t think like another footballer, they don’t put you on. I would have loved to play in these times, because I had a good foot, both right and left. Being a goalkeeper now is a great challenge and I have always liked challenges. Although I still think that the most important thing is to stop, stop and stop.”

Bilbao, San Mamés, Lezama, football, we must all celebrate today the 80th anniversary of José Ángel Iribar, a true myth, a legend. This weekend we should wear a black garment. I will do it. As Athletic’s statement for the occasion says, this is “a ‘Chopo’ with deep roots in his land, but so tall and magnificent that his shadow is projected over the entire world & rdquor ;.