For the third time in six days everyone got to their feet to hand a standing ovation to Unai Simón, dressed in all black, before the world. Named the best men’s goalkeeper on the planet, holding the Lev Yashin trophy, they had applauded him at the London Palladium on Monday night and before the game began at San Mamés, Bilbao, on Sunday. Now somewhere in the middle of it all, the ferocity of the 197th Basque derby, there was another moment, even more meaningful and more lasting, a cheer again giving way to something deeper: an appreciation for a man as well as his work closing a week that will be forever his.
Which means it will be forever theirs too. Real Sociedad and Athletic Club had been doing battle for 72 minutes and it was 2-1 when Simon took off to make a save that denied Carlos Soler an equaliser and defied belief. As the ball flew off his palm, San Mamés exploded.
And then it happened: never mind that Athletic still had a derby to win and a corner to defend, forget the fact that the lead was a single goal, the visitors relentless now and 25 minutes still to resist; at the stadium everyone calls the Cathedral, a place of ritual and liturgy like no other, the entire congregation, 50,092 people, started clapping. Started and did not stop. For a minute, maybe more, it was like the match that matters most didn’t matter at all, momentarily fading until it was just him and them together.
That was just one of four superb stops that Simón made as Athletic ended La Real’s four-derby winning run, those saves and goals from Iñaki Williams first and Álex Berenguer giving them a 2-1 win. There had been a six-minute period in the first half alone, immediately after Luka Sucic had made it 1-1, in which he saved from Ander Barrenetxea on 33, Sucic on 34, and Mikel Oyarzabal on 38, then gave everyone a coronary when he dropped a shoulder and dribbled past Oyarzabal on 40. But this, the last of them on 72, was the best; it was also the culmination of an extraordinary night and a six unique days, the kind myths are made of.
If anyone [else] had any questions about the trophy, those can be put aside now,” said Athletic’s coach, Edin Terzic. But it was not really the fact that Simon had taken the trophy; it was how he had, when he had. On Monday, Simon had boarded a Vueling flight from Bilbao for the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
A World Cup winner, a tournament record breaker too – albeit one who that day in New Jersey said: “If my gloves could talk they would say they didn’t have to do much” – he knew there was a chance of winning the goalkeeper’s award. For a few weeks, he had wondered what he might say, ordering his thoughts as he drove into Lezama each morning as he had been doing virtually every day for 15 years. By the time he took to the Palladium stage, he knew.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
