Saturday, October 19, 2024, 08:31
<a href="https://www.archysport.com/2023/04/bilbao-athletic-throws-in-the-towel-and-only-a-miracle-would-free-them-from-relegation/" title="Bilbao Athletic throws in the towel and only a miracle would free them from relegation”>Erlantz Palacín and Miguel Barandalla will have a “very special” date tomorrow. Athletic loaned both to <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/01/first-move-in-bilbao-athletic-arberas-to-gernika/" title="First move in Bilbao Athletic: Arberas, to Gernika”>Sestao River this past summer and this Sunday at 3:30 p.m. they will host the red and white reserve team in Las Llanas. The two, with contracts until 2026 in the Bilbao entity, can play in this clash. They only have the ‘fear clause’ for the second leg, in case there was already a lot at stake. Gathered by EL CORREO, they reflect on the great change that leaving Lezama means, being part of a first team and the important learning they take from this new experience.
Erlantz Palacín, from Galdakao (02/10/2003), had been in Lezama for a decade before arriving at the Sestao River. «Being in Lezama is very comfortable, you have all the means, and since you have been there for so many years, it is already part of your life. Leaving, at first, is a tough task,” he acknowledges. The case of Barandalla, from Navarre from Barañain (03/24/2004), is different, having arrived at the red-and-white factory at the age of fifteen. “Being at Athletic meant a big change in my life for me, leaving my friends and family… but I found a place where they took care of me as if it were my home,” he says.
Of course, Lezama’s facilities are one of the best in the world. Nothing to do with the means that a humble club like Sestao River has. In that sense, the change for both is very big. “The first days are a bit dizzying because everything is very different,” says Palacín. Barandalla adds that “it is a change similar to what it might be like to leave university and find the world of work and learn a lot.” “Knowing the limitations that the club has, they are giving us the maximum facilities to have a professional day-to-day life and it is appreciated,” he says.
Something that the two young footballers have already experienced is that this new experience is helping them to “value everything much more.” «In Lezama everything is very bearable, you get used to having everything. So, coming here and training is necessary, it is part of the process of becoming a footballer,” says the Biscayan. The Navarrese left back confirms that “in Lezama you are in the middle of cotton, you go outside and you realize what real football is.” “These limitations make you put your feet on the ground,” he concludes.
Jon Guruzeta and Jon Cabo had the same message last year, who after their time at Sestao, have relaunched their careers, ending up at Eibar and Lugo, respectively. Their cases are mirrors for Barandalla and Palacín. “They are an example that football does not end by leaving Lezama, to get to Rome there are a thousand paths and it is not always the easiest,” highlights the first of them. “It was hard when I had to go out on loan, but I looked at them and other people who left Lezama and it helped motivate me,” says the right-back.
Few opportunities
On a football level, moving from Bilbao Athletic to Sestao River also means adapting to a very different idea of the game. Therefore, Barandalla welcomed leaving on loan, “to improve my skills in aspects of the game in which I was not so strong and could not grow as much in Lezama.” “This is a great learning at a defensive and duel level,” he exemplifies. Perhaps that is the explanation why, at the moment, they are the two players with the fewest minutes on the squad. “We come from playing in one way and we have to adapt to a different one, each change takes time and little by little we are more introduced,” says the one from Barañain.
Of course, it also does not hide that “it is being tough because we are not having the minutes we expected or desired, but we are working hard to improve those weaknesses we have and make a place for ourselves in the team.” Erlantz Palacín, in that sense, is “convinced that, with all the work we do, we are going to have more minutes than we are having now. “We are two very hard-working people and it will end up paying off.” It will be necessary to see if they have the opportunity in a Biscayan derby that for them will be “very special”, due to the fact that they will have “many friends” in front of them.
The potential of Canales and Olabarrieta
During the week, they have shared messages with some of their former colleagues. For example, Barandalla says that he will be “especially excited” to play against Xabi Irurita and Jon de Luis, with whom he shared a flat “until recently.” Regarding the Bilbao Athletic footballers, the potential of Peio Canales and Aingeru Olabarrieta stands out, who have already made their debut in the first team. Although they also name Ibon Sánchez, Endika Buján, Alejandro Rego or Beñat Gerenabarrena. “Any Bilbao Athletic player is capable of making the leap,” they highlight.
They expect a “one-to-one” match. «They will propose a game and we, with our weapons, can do them a lot of damage. It will be a game where the areas become very important, we must take advantage of our opportunities and try not to create too much danger for us,” considers Barandalla. “It will be a game with a lot of energy, a lot of intensity and a very close one,” says Palacín, who emphasizes “keeping a clean sheet.” Currently, both teams are in relegation positions. Bilbao Athletic has eight points and Sestao River six, so it can also be decisive in this aspect.
