Iribar: “I love this Cup that strengthens the humble”

What a 77th birthday on Sunday in San Mamés with people standing!

Yes, they did it by surprise, because I didn't expect it. It was a secret, and the truth is that it moved me, it was very beautiful.

And listen in the new field in minute one ‘Iribar is great, as Iribar there is none’ already disarmed him.

Well (laughs). I have always said that this song has encouraged me a lot, but I think it is more like me …

Let me doubt it. Let's go with the Cup. What do you remember about that semifinal against Granada in 1969?

It was a good team. The tie looked like it could be matched. First we played there and they got ahead. It marked Noya, a blond who was very incisive. We tied through Javi Clemente. Then the goals were not worth double in the opposite field. The tie was promising.

In San Mamés they were stronger.

Forever. We were growing up. We won two to zero.

That Granada was run by Marcel Domingo, a French exporter.

If I remember.

In his team were Tinas, Lorenzo, Barrenechea, Santos, Barrachina, Ureña and Ñito, a canary, goalkeeper …

I just was with him! He is from Tenerife and we greet each other on the day of the Cup qualifier. He has had the most contact of that generation. Ñito was in Valencia and was once selected.

Later, in the 70s, the Granada of ‘Los Carniceros’ rose to fame, with two very tough centrals such as the Argentine Aguirre, who apparently had falsified papers to impersonate Paraguayan, and Paraguayan Fernández. They became sixth in the league.

Fernandez was said to have withdrawn Amancio after an injury that required 150 stitches. It was a team with a very expeditious defense (laughs). We talk about other times. In all the teams there were players who defended without contemplation against players like our Uriarte, Argoitia or Arieta at that time. There was more permissiveness, the pressure was enormous towards the referee. The moves after the matches were not analyzed. There was no turning back and the teams became very strong at home. Depending on the level of the adversary, he defended himself very strongly.

They even had Enrique Porta, who was top scorer in First.

It was very good, yes. Lasa played with them before coming to Bilbao. He acted as an extreme and with us he went to the right side.

He will have an intense memory of the final against Elche.

Yes, those memories are fresh, because it is a final. The day of winning a title again. We had a great responsibility because we had not achieved it for eleven years. Before we had played two finals, against Zaragoza and Valencia and we could not take them. We were eager and very responsible. Elche gave us work. Almost until the end we did not achieve it, with a great goal from Antón Arieta.

That Athletic was good, huh? Rojo I, Arieta, Igartua, Sáez … with Rafa Iriondo as coach.

Yes it was. Very good. As a team we worked very well.

Do you remember the celebrations?

It is one of the best memories of my sporting life. After dinner, celebrating there with the Cup and throwing some songs … the rigor, end of the season, was the last game and we had permission to leave, we went out in a group and celebrated. We were very much in a gang.

And the next day, more party.

As soon as we got up we were thinking about the reception, we thought we would have to go a little uniformed, then there was no culture of wearing the shirts … we took Guillermo Perdiguero, the masseuse and the one who was in charge of the material, we sent him for the stores for a shirt that was red and white, and he got it for the 20 or 21 we were there.

They entered Durango, in honor of Anton Arieta.

Yes, he deserved that the people jelly him, for the goal of the final. The baserritarras, grandparents, children … all came. And some with the hoe because there was nothing else!

They went down by Atxuri.

They mounted us in a truck. We were crowded. You touched the people on the balconies with your hand. When you win, you think: mission accomplished.

The return this time is in Los Cármenes. Does that balance the forces a little more?

We have a good result, but they, when playing at home have that plus. Always like the return in your fief when there is a double game. We will have to be very focused, because they also have a very good team at the moment. You have to be very put to avoid scares. We have a very good defense and that can give us a lot, but we must have respect and success in the face of the opposing goal.

He talked about the pressure they had 50 years ago to win a title after so long. Is it comparable to now? The barge has not been removed since 1984. Only the 2015 Super Cup has been won.

Can be. It is a great opportunity. We are all aware; the first, the players, to be back in a final. In the last ten years we have been in a few. We already know what our people like to be in the Cup finals.

Due to the fact that Barça, Madrid and Atlético are not there, do you think that it is more feasible than ever in this recent era?

Due to the fact that these great teams are not there, the Cup is different. You always think you can have more options, but in football everything is hypothetical.

It's true, there are examples throughout history.

Look at 58, when Athletic won Real Madrid, European champion, to a match. It was played in Chamartín. And the surprise came, Athletic won by zero to two. Football has that component of luck that harbors those surprises, that's why it's so big.

What has evolved football from that semifinal of 1969 to the present. Have you thought about it? You were an avant-garde in that serve with your hand, you were great clenching your fists … Now the goalkeeper has to be one more field player. Everything has changed a lot.

Yes, it has evolved, but the former remains the same: stop. The rules have changed and that has made the goalkeeper's job difficult. The goalkeeper has been changing the way he plays, he is now a footballer, the libero. With advanced defenses, they force you to have other positions. It is the sign of the times, everything evolves. That improves the qualities of a goalkeeper. Is more difficult. You have to stop and know how to play, the two facets are very important, in certain teams more than in others. That requires more preparation. It is convenient to progress on this issue without any doubt.

What goalkeeper do you like about the current ones?

I could not quote one. There are many and good. Here, in LaLiga, Ter Stegen, Oblak, Courtois. Now he is in Madrid. I loved Atlético. They are sober. A little like me.

In the crossing of Athletic through this Cup the goalkeepers have been very important.

Two batches of penalties were saved, with Herrerín and Ezkieta.

Should we score in Granada or should we find a zero draw?

It is convenient to score. Always try to do it outside, because a goal gives you much more life. It would grant us many possibilities. If not, you have to be very tense trying not to get stuck. It is not convenient to have too much uncertainty (laughs). The game is complicated, but I insist that we have a good result.

This Cup format has been beautiful.

I love it, in football you have to give everyone a chance. It is the essence of football, giving more opportunities to the participant, especially the most humble. Strengthen the humble. There have been small teams that have been able to eliminate First clubs. And there is the Mirandés. It's nice, exciting and positive to see them.

The president of the Port of Bilbao, Ricardo Barkala, asks to use another means other than the barge if the Cup is won for security reasons.

We'll talk on Friday if you think so.

What can it mean for Athletic to recover the path of the titles?

The philosophy is very reinforced, we are a team that even in the League we are able to beat Barcelona. Those matches stay in the retina of the whole fans. And it adds to the children and the next quarry. It is a reinforcement. Whenever you win something, it reinforces you. But I still think that everything is very well established.