The motorway between Bilbao and San Sebastian twists and turns amid the verdant Basque hills. Halfway between the two is the town of Eibar, population 27,000.
It's a blink-and-you'll-miss kind of place, an industrial town ignored by the guidebooks which was once famous for the production of small armaments — hence its football team's Los Armeros nickname — hemmed into the narrow Ego valley. Not an inch of flat land is wasted, including at the town's Ipurua football ground, which is perched halfway up the valley by the motorway on the edge of town.
Eibar's rise to the Primera Liga in 2014 was staggering. They were the smallest club in the second tier, so it was a big ask to expect them to compete among the elite, especially as they had no benefactor.
Yet, unlike many bigger clubs who refused to live within their means, Eibar did have a solvent and successful model. They didn’t have a penny of debt and compete they did, starting well enough to give them enough points to stay up. They did the same last season, also picking up more points to finish a hugely creditable 14th.
Eibar’s team was physical, their home inhospitable to opponents used to playing in grander settings. Real Sociedad’s then-manager David Moyes visited on a rainy night and compared it to watching football in Scotland’s highlands.
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Eibar’s success brought a problem; their ground seated only 5,200, which had been sufficient for their 2,000 average crowds in the second and third tiers. The Primera Liga demands a minimum all-seater capacity of 15,000.
With their home surrounded by tower blocks, Eibar didn’t have space to come close to that, but they built a new stand in 2015 which boosted the capacity to 6,200. The stand it replaced had four rows of seats. Camp Nou has 165 from the pitch to the back of the third tier.
This close season, Eibar ripped up a third of their pitch to build an underground car park, club museum, shop and another new stand on top, which should open by January and raise the capacity to 7,200. Though they could also develop their main stand, privately the club concede that they will not get close to the 15,000 capacity and hope that the Primera Liga look favourably upon a well run club where most of the seats are sold, rather than a badly run club with more empty seats than occupied ones.
Eibar’s budget remains tiny, but their prudence means it’s no longer the smallest, and they were able to spend more than €1 million (Dh4.1m) each on four different players in the close season, including former Manchester United forward Bebe for a €1.3m fee. Courtesy of experienced Basque manager Jose Luis Mendilibar they have a style and trusted 4-2-3-1 system which suits. They also signed French central defender Florian Lejeune from Manchester City for €1.3m.
Eibar enjoyed their first win of the season at the weekend, a 1-0 triumph over Valencia. The visitors had more chances and were unlucky, but then Eibar were unfortunate a week ago to lose their opening game to an 87th minute penalty from Lucas Perez of Deportivo La Coruna. He has now left for Arsenal, as has Valencia's Mustafi.
Several Spanish clubs are nervously awaiting the end of the transfer window and hoping that richer English predators don’t poach more of their players. England has more money, Spain produces superior footballers.
Valencia have lost their opening two games and the chaos of last season shows no sign of abating. They have also lost Spanish international striker Paco Alcacer, 23, to Barcelona.
As Valencia fans reel, the blow of their dreadful start should be softened by a year long loan of Barcelona striker Munir El Haddidi, 20, in the opposite direction. The Moroccan is hugely talented, he just needs games and despite Barca fans wanting him to stay, he will likely play more football at Valencia, who have an option to buy him for €12m. With a stable environment, it could be the perfect move. The problem is, Valencia have been anything but stable in recent years.
If he wants stability, Eibar is the place to be.
Villarreal precariously in transition
After an opening week packed with 40 goals, the second week of the season had only 17. Eleven of the 20 sides kept clean sheets, with four of the games ending goalless. Among them was Villarreal at home to a Sevilla team who had seen 18 goals scored in their previous three matches.
For Villarreal, it was a stable result in turbulent times. They had been held by Granada the previous week in a 1-1 draw and they were well on top against Sevilla.
They lost their popular manager Marcelino two weeks before the season started, with the man who had led them to the Europa League semi-final last season and a top four finish said to be frustrated with the transfer activity.
It was a surprise, because Villarreal are usually one of the best organised clubs in Spain, one of the most astute in the transfer market. After all, they had signed Eric Bailly only five games into his top-flight career, while resurrecting the careers of still young fading stars including Diego Forlan, Juan Roman Riquelme and Giuseppe Rossi. That trio would become their all-time three top Primera Liga scorers.
Marcelino wanted a stronger squad as the club aimed to reach the Uefa Champions League and avoid a repeat of the disaster the last time they were in competition in 2011 when, decimated by injury, they finished bottom of their group with six straight defeats and only two goals scored against 14 conceded. They were also relegated.
Instead, Villarreal lost Bailly to Manchester, Denis Suarez departed, while Roberto Soldado picked up a cruciate injury and another key player, defender Cedric Bakambu, remains unavailable.
The uncertainty shows. They were knocked out of their Champions League qualifier by Monaco last week, losing home and away and have failed to win either of their opening games.
Manager Fran Escriba admitted that the Champions League elimination was a big disappointment, but now he aims to win the Europa League, where they have been drawn with Steaua Bucharest, FC Zurich and Turkish side Osmanlispor. They will have to improve considerably if they are to come close to matching the domestic and European achievements of last season.
Escriba, 51, has called for patience from fans and asked to be judged after 100 days. He did not convince as Getafe manager last season and Villarreal fans were underwhelmed by his appointment, but he claims his team could have won both league games so far. Such talk will become cheap if the fifth-best resourced team in Spain don’t start winning.
The coach cursed as Alexandre Pato, the striker signed in the close season, came off injured against Sevilla, but the Brazilian is expected to be back for their next game. They will need him.
Game of the week
None (international break)
The international break means an early pause for the Primera Liga. There’s a full fixtures list in the second division, when Sevilla’s promoted second team meet another new side, UCAM Murcia, who were only founded in 1999 and only adopted their current name in 2011. There’s also a derby between Zaragoza and Huesca. Not that Zaragoza fans like to consider themselves rivals of their smaller neighbours 50 kilometres to the north. Zaragoza remain among the favourites for promotion behind Levante who boast the biggest budget in the division.
Player of the week — Nabil El Zhar
According to Granada manager Paco Jemez, he himself was the best player for his side as they lost 1-5 to Las Palmas who top the table going into the two week international break. Granada were dreadful, Las Palmas were not as they lead the table for the first time since 1989. Former Liverpool winger Nabil El Zhar, 30, was their stand out player. The Moroccan is in his second season at high scoring Las Palmas, who continue to impress under Quique Setien.
What else?
• Barcelona made it four wins from four this season, with two in the Spanish Super Cup, after beating Athletic Bilbao 1-0 away. It was the same result in the same stadium as a year ago, but Barca’s good form is without the absent Neymar and injured Andres Iniesta. They have also lost goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to Manchester City. Luis Enrique, celebrating his 100th win as Barca manager in all competitions, was right to praise the achievement of winning in Bilbao, plus the togetherness of his squad, with responsibility more spread than just relying on his sacred cows of a year ago.
• Real Madrid also enjoyed a narrow win, beating a Celta Vigo side who looked tactically superior in the first half at the Bernabeu. James Rodriguez played well enough to show why Zinedine Zidane wants him to stay at the club. It's a different matter for Isco, with Madrid willing to sell him to the highest bidder as they keep up with a recent tradition of selling a player for big money to a Premier League side towards the end of each August. Tottenham Hotspur have been in touch.
• Atletico Madrid were held 0-0 at their newly promoted neighbours Leganes, who are playing in Primera Liga for the first time. Leganes, like Getafe and Alcorcon, is a largely working class satellite town south of Madrid which has seen a population surge in the last 30 years. Most of the football fans there support Atletico Madrid or Real Madrid. Atletico are the only team in the league who have yet to score from open play so far this season.
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