Athletic Bilbao: Basque-ing in Glory

February 2013

Levante 0 – 1 Athletic Bilbao

Athletic Bilbao 3 – 0 Real Madrid

Athletic Bilbao 2 – 0 Villarreal

Barcelona 2 – 1 Athletic Bilbao

Athletic Bilbao 3 – 1 Real Valladolid

La Liga Table

Our Player of the Month

Iker Muniain

Athletic Bilbao’s very own wonderkid has finally won our Player of the Month award after what was his best month yet. Having agreed a new deal last month, Muniain showed just a taster of what may be ahead for our fans after bagging four goals this month.

Oceano’s Verdict

We knew this month was going to be tough and taking that into consideration, I’m very happy with what was achieved. We got a routine win versus Levante which was important to get before our clash with Real Madrid. Entering the game with full confidence, I still couldn’t imagine winning by such a margin against the ‘Galacticos’ which is phenomenal. It was a shame to lose to Barcelona of course having lost in the final ten minutes and of course that means we concede top spot to them but we responded well versus Valladolid and I expect us to impress next month if we are to end with a trophy in our hands. Overall, a very good month again.

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March 2013

Getafe 1 – 1 Athletic Bilbao

Athletic Bilbao 3 – 0 Real Betis

Malaga 0 – 4 Athletic Bilbao

Athletic Bilbao 5 – 0 Elche

Osasuna 0 – 0 Athletic Bilbao

La Liga Table

Our Player of the Month

Iker Muniain

Iker Muniain was again our man of the moment with three goals and two Man of the Match awards this month. His great performances helped us solidify some results and he’s really starting to show his true colours out on that left wing, proving to be unplayable at times.

Annual Youth Intake

Gontzal Agirre
(Please excuse the missing Regen face. I recently downloaded an OLT megapack but then extracting, all faces disappeared. I’m still trying to fix this so if you have a solution, please let me know.)

Our first Regen comes in the form of Gontzal Agirre. A central midfielder with three star potential who is touted as one of the promising youth players now in the Under 19’s. Of course I would have liked a five star wonderkid but three isn’t a bad start and I see a future for this guy at Bilbao.

Oceano’s Verdict

The month started in a difficult manner as we were given a small reality check from Getafe. We responded brilliantly in the following three games, scoring 12 and conceding none. However, we did unfortunately lose to rivals Osasuna which will always hurt deeply as it distances ourselves from Barcelona. Nevertheless, we must move on for we have two extremely difficult games next month versus Valencia and Atletico Madrid. We cannot afford to drop too many points or else we’ll risk Real Madrid overtaking our good work this season.

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TITLE HOPES OVER?

Oceano Cruz has dropped the biggest hint yet that Athletic Bilbao’s hopes of winning La Liga may be over by focusing on UEFA Champions’ League qualification.

Athletic Bilbao, who sat in 1st place for the majority of the season, has seen their lead collapse following a draw to Osasuna and a defeat to league leaders Barcelona that left them second.

Now Oceano believes the club must focus on attaining Champions’ League status before anything else as they face Valencia and Atletico Madrid in the next coming days.

“We’ve got to take things bit by bit here at Bilbao. We don’t want to create any illusions so we have to be realistic.

“I don’t want to indulge myself into making any predictions so our ultimate target for now would be to qualify for the Champions’ League.

“That is a very likely occurrence and one we will be gunning for. It would be an achievement of epic proportions for all here at Bilbao. That is where we are at now and we shall see where we end up soon.”

With two huge games coming up for Athletic Bilbao and Sevilla still to be played, ‘Los Leones’ sit 2nd 6 points behind Barcelona with high-flying Real Madrid hot on their heels with 6 points less.

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RUFFIER: BILBAO WANT ME

Saint Etienne goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier claims Athletic Bilbao is after him after the Frenchman announced his intentions to leave the club.

Oceano Cruz is known to be keen on the ‘Les Verts’ number one having bid for him last January before it was rejected but Ruffier claims there has been renewed interest.

“I spoke to my agent and he has affirmed me that interest from Athletic Bilbao is strong. There is other clubs interest too and I am considering my options so a move is likely.

“As far as I know, there has been contact between both clubs and although the progress has slowed down due to my valuation, I’m confident something will be sorted out soon.

“Being Basque, of course it will be a dream to play for Bilbao. They are a team with a lot of ambition and are currently doing brilliantly in La Liga. For now however, I just got to let the time roll and see how it goes. Saint Etienne and my representatives know my intentions.”

Oceano has spoken about his interest for Ruffier publicly, although he remains unsure whether anything will ever materialise.

“If you were to ask me if I am interested in Ruffier, of course I’d agree. He’s one of Ligue 1’s top keepers in my eyes but there will be a whole host of teams interested too.

“We have spoken to Saint Etienne; they know how we feel so the ball is very much in their court. We can only respect their decision and hope something happens.

“The fee asked at the moment is too high for us but we will attempt to find a happy medium as always. We have at the moment two great keepers in Gorka Iraizoz and Asier Riesgo so we are in no rush.”

April 2013

Athletic Bilbao 3 - 1 Valencia

Atletic Madrid 2 – 2 Athletic Bilbao

Athletic Bilbao 1 – 2 Espanyol

Real Sociedad 1 – 3 Athletic Bilbao

La Liga Table

Our Player of the Month

Borja Ekiza

Borja Ekiza has been fantastic this season and this month has been no different. Defensively as a team, we haven’t got our act together this month by Ekiza and Mikel San Jose done just enough to hold us firm. All our results this month was thanks to him.

Oceano’s Verdict

The fatigue is really starting to kick in as we can see. We dropped 5 points this month which exemplifies our tiredness and the fact Barcelona have almost piped us to the title may be affecting us. Nevertheless, 2nd place is nearly in the bag which is a superb achievement for us and we must finish our job off next month before the big Copa Del Rey final!