That only Aritz Elustondo retired to the locker room in such a tough training session was something of a small miracle. The Beasain center-back went to the locker room before his teammates after receiving a blow, but he is fine. A few minutes later, already in the locker room, he had recovered.
Aritz wasn’t the only one bruised in an all-out battle. Le Normand needed a good afternoon rest, probably bruised even on his identity card. He did a lot of damage to his right ankle and he kept going. Imanol was affected and in one of these he threw him. “What a morning, Robin!” Stoic resisted the French, a granite rock, to the end.
Merino was tricked by a ball in the shoulder from which he quickly recovered. Ryan, in the final stages of training, knocked out Gorosabel with a punch that was as involuntary as it was forceful, leaving him wanting to clear the ball. The lateraal had a hard time recovering from the tremendous slap. So much intensity was to the liking of Imanol, visibly happy at the end of the session, despite the contingencies that put him in difficulties. They were missing Monreal, Carlos Fernández, the two who advance on their own at a good pace, Isak, Barrenetxea, Januzaj and Rafinha.