In his hands is the government of two cities as touristic and avant-garde as Bilbao and San Sebastián. One looks out over the estuary; the other, to the Cantabrian. Water unites them and rivalry separates them. Ahead of the Cup final, Aburto and Goia, the two mayors, sweep for home. They don't want to put up with the neighbor's jokes.
JUAN MARI ABURTO: “I'm sorry, but the Cup has to come to Bilbao”
TO Juan Mari Aburto (Bilbao, 60 years old, turned Sunday) the phone does not stop ringing these days. In the middle of an interview, the mayor of Zaragoza calls him. He receives AS in his office and dares to touch the ball in the well-known Arab Hall of the Bilbao City Council, an authentic architectural gem.
Where will you see the final?
At home, as a family, with a snack-dinner and a huge illusion because only reaching the final is that and generates a different atmosphere throughout the city.
It will be strange not being in the box …
Yes, I do not hide from you that as mayor it was an enormous illusion to be able to go on behalf of the city and to be able to receive them in the City Hall if they win the final, but the responsibility and the health situation that we are experiencing makes that impossible at the moment. It would not make sense that the fans cannot come and the mayor does. Hopefully this happens as soon as possible and we can go back to normal.
Does the fact of being a Basque final and having to live it at home hurt more?
It hurts much. To me as mayor and I am convinced that to the president of Athletic, with whom I have been talking about these things. It hurts the team and, above all, the city. We all need to have some escape valves and we are sure that this would be a joy, because Athletic is very special for us. And I am convinced that it hurts Seville a lot that there is no public, because they know that between Guipuzcoans and Biscayns we would have filled the sixty thousand seats of La Cartuja, but it is sure that another twenty thousand or more would surely have filled the streets of Seville .
One year since the confinement began and this pandemic that changed our lives. Surely this Cup can be something like a vaccine, an injection of joy …
Without a doubt. It is a social vaccine for the collective moral touch which has meant reaching a new final and having won the Super Cup. Winning these two finals would be an extraordinary vaccine to go through this transition through the pandemic in a different way.
It is many 37 years without a Cup!
Too many. He was closely related to Piru Gainza, Athletic's historic left winger. When I was a child he used to say to me: 'Look, Juan Mari, we need to win a title every ten years. Because it is the way our philosophy remains with boys and girls. Children want to be winners and that is why we have seen for years in the ikastolas and schools of Bilbao kids with the Messi or Cristiano shirt. For us it is very significant. And the finals of the Bielsa era and the current ones are going to make the little ones see that with the Athletic shirt they can win titles. That is to reinforce a different philosophy and that distinguishes us from the rest '.
La Gabarra has already been tested in the estuary. A bilbainada?
We started with Athletic, the Maritime Museum, the Port and the Diputación itself to make an agreement for the repair of La Gabarra before the final scheduled for last year. A repair process has been done and now it coincided with dates to do the buoyancy tests. Together the two things, those rehearsals and the finals, it seemed like a bilbainada, but in Bilbao we are very respectful with the adversary. It is going to be a final of Basque football. Derbies are intense and exciting. The feeling of Basque football will be very present in this historic final, which has never happened. Both hobbies and both teams are waiting with great enthusiasm and I can only say that I am sorry, but the Cup has to come to Bilbao.
Do you see your favorite team, therefore?
I don't care who's favorite. In terms of favorites, I see this final more evenly matched and on the 17th the favorite is Barcelona. But Athletic has shown us that it is capable of anything and in these moments we are with a mental force that takes us in flight and the games do not last 90 minutes but something more and in those moments we are capable of doing a lot of damage to the rival.
The Bilbao breed! Playoff passes with a lot of agony …
We have always seen that the city has risen from its ashes, we have turned the situation around with that strength that we have and Athletic is a reflection of it. We base our game and our history on two characteristics: a lot of strength and intensity on the one hand and speed on the other.
Are you launching piques with Eneko Goia, your San Sebastian counterpart?
We are both very fans and we have seen many games together over the years both in Anoeta and in San Mamés. Each one defends his own, it cannot be otherwise.
SOCCER 20 / 21Aburto, in the Arab Hall of the Bilbao City Council
AIOL
The celebration of the Super Cup in private was very emotional.
I very much remember 2015, with Ernesto Valverde and Carlos Gurpegui coming with the trophy to the steps of the City Hall, with the entire esplanade full of people. And this one in 2021 has been different because it was done in private, with the five captains, with Marcelino, whom I met that day, and the president. It was an act full of symbolism, but full of meaning for what it represents for Athletic to win a title.
Marcelino even blurted out in Basque, he already seems like one more from Bilbao.
One of our characteristics is that we welcome people with open arms and, above all, that whoever knows us always has the feeling: how could I not have lived this before. It happened with Caparrós, who ended up being Jokin, with Bielsa… and it will happen with Marcelino. I remember Kendall, who came to train at Athletic from Everton and when he left Bilbao, once a month he kept coming to Sondika to have dinner every month at a txoko. That can only happen here.
With what San Mamés represents for the city… seeing it empty for a year will be especially painful for the mayor.
It is very hard. I always say that the most notorious example that we will have overcome the pandemic will be when San Mamés is filled again, when we return to those stands to cheer on our team. It hurts to see that from a social point of view everything that Athletic represents cannot have that expressiveness that we like. We are a team very intertwined with its people, as the anthem says.
By the way, he's upset about the Eurocup issue!
No, I am very upset that you cannot play with the work of an institution like ours. Bilbao in its day opted for the European Championship, it was decided by UEFA that this city should host and we have been working for six years in various teams that have to do with safety, mobility, communication and many things. There are many people in this City Council dedicated to this task and a lot of money is being spent to have an event that we contemplate in economic terms mainly because of what it contributes to the city and because of the image that Bilbao is going to project to the world, of in such a way that there are many people who when they watch the games can say: I have to go to this city. That is why questioning that circumstance and talking about I do not know what political problems is nonsense and one suspects that there is someone, I do not know who, who wants to put sticks in the wheels and we intend to continue working so that the Eurocopa is an event in Bilbao.
And he has managed to bring the Tour to Bilbao. The Grand Départ!
We have been working with the three institutions, the Government, the Provincial Council and the City Council due to this circumstance. In 2016, when we arrived at Bilbao de la Vuelta, we started talking, it was the definitive challenge. Prudhomme told us that they are in favor of landing here. If the Tour wanted to come and we wanted to bring it … those wills had to merge in time. The pandemic has delayed us a year, but we will have it here in 2023. It is exciting news. Economically, it will have a great favorable impact on us.
Let's see if Euskaltel reaches that exit or if it is called MasMóvil …
Hopefully the Euskaltel can make it to the Tour. He will be in the Vuelta and La Itzulia, I fervently hope that he can start the Tour in 2023, It will mean that the health of the team is good and he has been climbing positions.
ENEKO GOIA: “I didn't finish watching the '87 final because of my nerves”
The mayor of San Sebastián, Eneko Goia (San Sebastián, 49 years old), of the PNV like his rival on Saturday, Aburto, lives the days before the final in Seville “with nerves”. So many, that he does not know if he will be able to watch the entire game or will have to put it aside, as in the last Cup that Real Sociedad won in 1987.
Nerves?
I am not going to deny that I have some nerves, and I am looking forward to it because it has cost us a lot to get to the end, with the pandemic in the middle. And emotion, because I am very sorry for the colors and seeing them play this final is a pride for me.
Where were you in the last Real final, in 1987?
At home. I remember it well. I had a terrible time, like many. I was unable to watch the game until the end, because I couldn't take penalties, I climbed over the walls. And I left, I knew that Arconada had saved the decisive penalty due to the screams that could be heard in the courtyard of the house.
So how will the end of La Cartuja live?
I'm going to live it with intensity and nerves. And I still do the same and I have to retire because I can't stand it. But I will try to watch the whole game.
Have there been piques with the mayor of Bilbao?
No. We haven't done them and I don't think we do them excessively. I do argue a lot with other mayors, but with the mayor of Bilbao I have always felt very well treated when I have gone to a derby in San Mamés. It is super respectful and the truth is that it gives little cause for there to be bites, although some others seek our mouths.
How did you feel that they will try to put only a Sevillian audience in the final when you have given up traveling to the final?
I got quite upset. But not because of declining to travel, that is something personal and it is indifferent, but because it is being difficult to make people see that there are limitations that we must comply with. And some are harsh. And suddenly a final with 20,000 spectators is allowed, and I was put in a complicated position. It would have been a mistake because we were sending the wrong message to the public. It was incoherent.
Are you optimistic?
I am by nature. After 1-6 we have a certain scare, but I think we should not lose perspective and come out with victory morale. It is true that if it is celebrated at the time, in 2020, the Real seemed unstoppable and now it has a more unequal behavior, but of course they are going to leave their skin, I am sure, and they will give us that joy.
SOCCER 20/21 Goia, tapping a ball in the San Sebastian Town Hall.
AMAIA ZABALO (DAILY AS)
What would winning the Cup 34 years later mean for San Sebastián?
A shot of joy in a context in which there are not many reasons for joy. I always say that the Real embodies a pride of belonging that is independent of political opinions or other things, and is what unites us. And being able to celebrate, even in a responsible way, a Real victory gives you a shot that is important at this time.
You have to remember that you have to be prudent if you are champions. I say with the possible celebrations …
That's how it is. We have been in this situation for more than a year and we have learned a lot. But there are dates and events that it is difficult not to celebrate as before, such as Saint Sebastian's Day, for example. But it is what will play if we win and what we have to do out of responsibility. There are many ways to show pride in being a Real and I am convinced that we will.
Do you dare with a result?
Well I like to say that we are going to win 1-2. But as long as we win, any result is good (laughs).