When former Real Sociedad manager David Moyes went on a scouting mission at Eibar a year ago, he was shocked by what he saw.
“An eye-opener,” said the Scot. “One that destroys the myths of Spanish football. They don’t talk about tika-taka in Eibar. The rain was torrential; it could have been a game in the north of Scotland. I went to watch two La Liga teams but it was like going to a Conference ground, with small stands.
“Their ground only holds 5,000. It’s a great story, though. Eibar were promoted two years in a row and are doing just fine in the top flight with largely the same team. They have two big centre-halves and two big forwards. These are the stories you want to see in football and as a football man I loved it.”
Eibar have constructed another stand since Moyes visited, upsetting neighbours who once enjoyed an unimpeded view of the tiny Ipurua Stadium. The capacity is still only 6,200, with no room to expand on a mountainside.
[Weekend preview: Team news, fixtures and kick-off times for La Liga]
It is a challenge driving up to Ipurua in a car, yet Real Madrid’s team coach on Sunday will climb out of the Basque town of 27,000, past a mural of “Scotland the Brave” into the tiny car park.
Madrid are not popular in the Basque Country and they will get a hellish reception at a place where fans are so close to the players that they can almost touch them. Two hundred local musicians will play Eibar’s anthem before the game, an encounter where Rafa Benitez’s team aim to get back on track in the league after their 4-0 clasico humiliation at home.
Eibar stayed up last season only because Elche were relegated following financial irregularities, but they have started exceptionally well and sit sixth and in a European spot. Beat Madrid and they go a point behind them. David can almost catch Goliath, but another defeat for Madrid is implausible.
Club president Florentino Perez called a press conference after the clasico disaster to assure the world that he was sticking by Benitez. Perez oversees a change of coach almost every year at the Bernabéu, but he usually waits until the end of the season before yielding the axe.
Benitez can expect a similar amount of time for as long as Madrid stay in contention for the league and in the Champions League, for which they easily qualified from their group this week.
Seeking an outlet to vent their frustrations, some fans turned against Perez last week after their team conceded a fourth, but the president claims it is a minority of ultras who are angry because he banned violent, right-wing extremists from the Bernabéu.
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Perez has a point and he was also right to emphasise that Madrid were struggling before Benitez arrived and that the clasico was only the second game of the season where the former Liverpool manager had all his players available.
But Madrid remain a circus, with some of the best performers in their field, a juggernaut who dominate the media. On Wednesday, they even had Spain’s current prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, commenting live on national radio on their 4-3 Uefa Champions League victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in Lviv.
Rajoy’s teenage son was also in the studio and joked that his father knew nothing about football. That became evident in the broadcast, which he had chosen to do to demonstrate he is a man of the people.
Perez knows far more and his claims that some in the media were trying to destabilise the club are also true. There are people trying to destabilise every football club, none more so than Real Madrid, which considers itself the biggest on earth.
Madrid can reduce the size of the target only by winning football matches and playing well. They will be glad of a chance to do that, even if it is in the tough environs of Eibar, a town famous for making guns.
Madrid hope Eibar do not catch them in their cross hairs.
PLAYER TO WATCH — LASSANA DIARRA (Marseille)
Six months ahead of France’s hosting Euro 2016, Les Bleus may have found their ideal anchor midfield player. He has experience, a distinguished club record and a drive to reclaim lost opportunities.
Back from the brink
Lassana Diarra’s career renaissance with Marseille, who face Mediterranean-coast rivals Monaco on Ligue 1 on Sunday evening, has been dramatic. This time a year ago, he was effectively out of work following a fierce disagreement between the player and the board at Lokomotiv Moscow, whom he had joined the previous January.
Uncertainty
Diarra concedes he experienced “moments when I wondered whether I would play at the top level again”. He kept in shape playing five-a-side in the Paris suburbs. He did not turn 30 until March, but a career that included stints with Chelsea, Arsenal and three seasons at Real Madrid, seemed to have drifted to the margins.
Monsieur Versatile
Diarra has had the confidence of some distinguished coaches, notably Jose Mourinho, who, wanting to get the younger Diarra into the Chelsea team, even used him in an unfamiliar right-back role. His speciality is central midfield, as a tough-tackling anchor. He is a fine passer and reads games well. Marseille, who took a gamble on his readiness in the summer, have found his command in that role a stabilising influence in a season that began poorly.
Irregular Bleu
Diarra won his first France cap in 2007, while still a young player at Chelsea. He had bad luck in terms of tournaments, however, benched throughout Euro 2008 and taken ill just before the 2010 World Cup. He was left out of Euro 2012 reckoning, and his move to Russia seemed to put him off the radar.
Quiet dignity
Body: His recall by Didier Deschamps to the national team in October came after a five-year absence. Then, earlier this month, while on duty for France, he heard a cousin with whom he was close, Asta Diakite, had died in the terrorist attacks on Paris. He released a dignified statement calling for unity and peace, took a day off to grieve with his family and then returned to work, with France and Marseille, with his usual tidy authority.
DON’T MISS MATCH — NAPOLI v INTER MILAN
Napoli welcome leaders Inter Milan looking to regain the spot in Serie A as Roma, fresh from another Uefa Champions League humiliation, and Fiorentina seek to keep pace with the current title favourites.
Napoli sit two points behind Inter, as do Fiorentino. Napoli’s title credentials have been burnished by a string of impressive performances at home and in Europe.
They are unbeaten since losing their league opener away to Sassuolo and, with striker Gonzalo Higuain leading the league on 10 goals, Maurizio Sarri’s side rolled into the Europa League last 32.
The results are far different from a poor 2014/15 season, when former Napoli star Diego Maradona, the architect of their previous two titles, in 1987 and 1990, lambasted Sarri.
Since then, Napoli have dropped only two points as they forge a path towards a possible third title.
"Right now, Napoli are frightening," former Inter and Italy defender Marco Materazzi told Gazzetta dello Sport. "They're well-organised, they're going really well and they've got Higuain, who is among the top five strikers in the world."
Between them, Higuain and Lorenzo Insigne have scored 17 of Napoli’s 24 goals but, with only eight conceded, Inter have the meanest defence in Serie A.
While an Inter win would open up a five-point gap on Napoli, Fiorentina and Roma are expected to remain in hot pursuit, while Juventus, nine points off the pace, travel to Palermo in the hunt for a fourth consecutive win days after beating Manchester City 1-0 to secure their Champions League last-16 berth.
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