Mendilibar, new coach of Alavés until the end of the season

José Luis Mendilibar (03/14/1961, Zaldibar, Bizkaia]accumulates an experience of more than twenty years on the bench. His career began shortly after hanging up his boots as a player for CDArratia (1994-96). After that, he went through the lower categories of Athletic de Bilbao (1996-01) and Aurrera de Vitoria (2001-02). After that, he traveled to the Canary Islands to take charge of UD Lanzarote (2002-04). His good performance on the islands catapulted him back to Euskadi to reach the club that, until now, has best been imbued with the character and dedication that mark Mendilibar’s philosophy: the SD Eibar. In this first stage in the gunsmith team he was about to go up to the First Division, which opened the doors of the Athletic Bilbao.

After a short visit to San Mamés, and two seasons with mixed results in Valladolid, Mendilibar signed for Osasuna to achieve the permanence of the rojillo club, something that he achieved by far. Three seasons later, Mendilibar’s fate headed to the Levante, where he had a short stay, and from there, again, to Eibar. It is in the gunsmith team that the qualities of a technician capable of giving a high rhythm to the games and getting the best performance out of each player have been best seen. Thanks to that, SDEibar has enjoyed six years in the top category, two of them in the top tens, with direct football and clear and defined signs of identity from the beginning. Now, Mendilibar arrives in Vitoria-Gasteiz with the aim of achieving permanence in the highest category and giving the team its own identity and regularity in the game.

Javier Calleja placeholder image He appeared yesterday at 15:30 in the sports city of Ibaia to train the team. As the communication he had was verbal, he did not want to be accused of not going to work. But he met Sporting Director Sergio Fernández in the locker room. It was the first time, according to sources close to the coach, in which he was offered a way out to ensure his financial status. The two came to the conclusion that there was no point jumping onto the field to work, so it was Morga, Njaradi, Barbero and Suárez, people from the club, who set up the session. The first two are physical trainers, the third is a goalkeeping coach and the last is an analyst. Mendilibar takes charge, as Diario AS announced last Thursday, of a group with a great need for self-esteem. If COVID-19 allows it, it will debut on Sunday against Real Sociedad in Mendizorroza.

6 positives in Alavés

As soon as the Christmas holidays were over, Alavés carried out antigen tests yesterday to find out if there were any players affected by the coronavirus. The infectious capacity of COVID-19 is now enormous and it was very difficult that, within such a large group, they did not test positive.

There have been six but none is a footballer of the Primera team. These are employees, communication people and other personnel that coexists, day by day, with the players. That puts Alavés on alert since, although there are no positives among the footballers now, it is possible that any of them incubate the virus in the next few hours and days and have to confine themselves at home immediately. The positive cases of the club are asymptomatic and are already removed from the bubble.

The club does not give identities although some of them are gradually transcending. What is known is that Matt Miazga, who was positive on December 7, has already recovered, has tested negative and since yesterday Monday he has joined the dynamics of the albiazul group. The one who is in Vitoria until January 3 is the Senegalese Mamadou Loum. He is summoned with his national team to play the African Cup but will not join the group until that day. From the 9th he will be focused on that competition and, being a very competent team and one of the favorites, in theory it will take a long time to return. Another problem for the new coach, José Luis Mendilibar.