The reactions in the Athletic environment around the last game of the Spanish team against Kosovo have not been long in coming. Fans and followers of the rojiblanco team have turned to social networks to show their disagreement with Luis Enrique's decision to make Unai Simón and, above all, Iñigo Martínez play the entire match played yesterday at La Cartuja. The discomfort is increased by the agreement of the Spanish coach with Sergio Ramos to make him play the last five minutes of this match in Seville.
The original problem is that Athletic faces the Cup final against Real this Saturday. It does not seem that Luis Enrique, at least that is what many Athletic fans maintain, would have acted in the same way with Real Madrid or Barça footballers if these clubs had to face a Champions League match or the same final of Cup three days after the national team meeting. The Asturian coach, in any case, already made it clear at the very moment of giving the call for these last three matches in Spain that he was going to think only about his interests and that the Cup final did not matter to him in that regard.
Unai Simón is the only international to have completed all three matches of the Spanish team against Greece, Georgia and Kosovo. Iñigo Martínez, for his part, came out after the break in the first two games and played all the minutes in the third. The Athletic center-back has been the sixth most used footballer by Luis Enrique in this competitive period of national teams with 180 minutes (less than Unai Simón, Eric García, Ferrán Torres, Morata and Dani Olmo). Mikel Oyarzabal, who will also be present in the Cup final this Saturday, has accumulated 35 minutes in these three games.