Year 1909. The San Sebastián Cycling Club is proclaimed champion of the Cup before being renamed Real Sociedad. There were no European competitions. The two leagues of the eighties had as one of the direct rewards getting into the European Cup in subsequent seasons. La Real qualified for the Recopa by winning the '87 Cup in Zaragoza. He finished eighth in the League. Conquering the 82 Super Cup did not mean playing in Europe the following year because that Real was also seventh in the standings. For the first time in the club's history, there is a generation that has lifted a title, the La Cartuja Cup, achieving the continental ticket in another way. Champions and Europe. Not champions, and therefore to Europe.
The season that has just ended is historic for all purposes for Real. Finding architects of success is an inertial exploration, due to the plurality of actors who have cooperated in the double achievement of the objectives. At the head of all appears Imanol Sheriff. It is his work.
Orio's coach improves his records in the second full season that he has completed at the helm of Real. All a consecration in the hard coexistence of the League with Europe. Imanol He has directed this season five more games than the previous one, interrupted by the pandemic in the spring of 2020. The coach has managed to make Real lose fewer games in a season in which more have been played. A starting point that promotes notable figures: the Real has won 42% of the official matches it has played this year.
The epic has been so eternal that it has been written in prose, liquidating routine rivals in the League, as in verse, for the beauty of the bills in the Cup final, in the passionate draw in Naples or in the overwhelming semifinal of the Super Cup against Barcelona that went down the drain on penalties. The story is the sum of 50 episodes. The conclusion is that the protagonists are heroes: they won the Cup and finished fifth.
Differences in distribution
Imanol Sheriff has recruited 31 footballers with the minimum quota of one minute on the pitch. Remiro He has played more than anyone, as is usual when a goalkeeper galvanizes the camera shot. Le Normand It surprises in the first position of the field players with the most minutes between the League, the Europa League, the Cups and the Super Cup. The seal of Silva he is galloping, although the injuries separate him from the “eleven type”: the Real won 76% of the occasions in which the Arguineguín star scored “21”. He has been in charge of marking the differences Isak, scoring 17 goals. The Merino, Oyarzabal or Monreal They did not lag behind, entrenched as cornerstones, beyond the numbers. Zubimendi, leader in recovered balls and member of the line-up with the most minutes, takes the Oscar txuri urdin to the revelation actor.
The cast of Imanol it is less homogeneous than it may seem. The spinal column cuts through the wardrobe. Remiro, Gorosabel, Zubeldia, You
Normand, Monreal, Zubimendi, Guevara, Merino, For your, Oyarzabal and Isak they take up the minutes, with space for Silva, Aritz, Barrenetxea or Januzaj. Between the Belgian and Aihen there is a telltale 15-game rift. Remiro, Guevara, For your and Isak they have been summoned to the 50 parties of the course. What titans. González de Zárate, Arambarri Y Robert
Navarrese they have debuted with the first team.
La Real has triumphed both in the League and in the pending Cup final that they won on April 3 against Athletic. The farewell to the Europa League was decided in exile in Turin against a Manchester steamroller who may today be the tournament champion. The current edition of the Cup and the Super Cup left cruel eliminations, since they were produced at the limit. Against Betis in extra time and against Barcelona on penalties.
Jon
Baptist he has added 473 minutes between the five open fronts that Real has faced this season. He has participated in 27 games and has never started. On multiple occasions he was recruited in extremis by Imanol to jump onto the field practically on the horn, with no room to contribute. His cameos have been constant, hence it is surprising that he was proclaimed the Real's top scorer in the Europa League, with two goals.