“The easiest signature of my career.” Ibon Sánchez and Bilbao Athletic agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Efe Korkut was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Adrián Pérez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A point taken on 89 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Nicolás Lorenzo chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Beñat García, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Bilbao Athletic would like this to lead.
Efe Korkut falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bilbao Athletic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nicolás Lorenzo after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Bilbao Athletic will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutIker Varela is not enjoying his job description
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Efe Korkut was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ibon Sánchez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
0‑1 to Real Avilés, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Nicolás Lorenzo to a room that had heard them before.
Beñat García is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.