The poster for the Real season 95/96 hid a secret difficult to imagine then. Three of his footballers will coincide in Primera more than two decades later. They will, yes, from their benches. They are Unai
Emery, Javi
Grace and of course, Imanol
Sheriff.
Three technicians who will also share objectives. Villarreal, Valencia and Real Sociedad will start next season with the European positions between eyebrows. Emery and Grace They will do so by debuting in front of two committed benches. The one with the submarine, for the grounds left by the dismissal of Javi
Lane after fifth place. Che, hot par excellence, for the rarefied environment that surrounds the management of the entity.
ImanolInstead, he faces the campaign consolidated as the leader of a brilliant Real for many months of last season and excited after achieving his continental ticket. The oriotarra now faces the challenge of getting the team to maintain its style and performance facing two such demanding competitions.
A reality that you will also have to face Emery, although the hondarribiarra has amply demonstrated that he is an expert in the matter. He has won the Europa League three times at the controls of Sevilla and reached the 2019 final with Arsenal.
GraceOn the other hand, he will have to focus only on the two domestic competitions, although the demand bar in Valencia is even higher. The Champions League is the horizon for a team that could suffer numerous losses from key players in recent years such as Rodrigo
Brown or Dani
Equal. The Navarrese will have work ahead.
Technician Source
Three young and experienced coaches that will see the faces of the elite 25 years after that team photo. In it, in addition, the last two sports directors of the Real appear, L
or
renzo
Juarros and Robert
Olabe, the goalkeeping coach who accompanies Gracia in all her adventures, Inigo
Arteaga, and other soccer players who have experiences as coaches. It is the case of Valery
Karpin, who heads the Russian Rostov, or Yaw
Acheampong, at the helm of Ghanaian Elmina Sharks. Inigo
Idiakez, Alberto
Lopez, Oscar
of
Paula or Javi
of
Pedro they also know what it is to take the blackboard.
It was the only season in which Emery (He headed to Toledo the following year), Grace and Imanol (both signed for Villarreal in 99/00) coincided in Real. A memory that will surely be far from their benches when the three meet with Europe at stake.