Football

Osasuna's coach spoke about the derbi that will face Athletic in El Sadar on Saturday, the 18th day of the EA Sports League.

Last Tuesday, after Iñaki Williams trained in San Mamés, he said to the media, "Playing in Arabia is bullshit."  Today, at a press conference, Valverde expressed his opinion on these statements and made it clear that going to Arabia is prestigious and that they must be very careful about the statements they make. 

Athletic will play this Saturday 's derbi against Osasuna in El Sadar. Valverde has pointed out that he is a strong rival and difficult to beat, but the goal is to recover the tips left on the road.

The decision was taken by mutual agreement and the club thanked the player for his work.

Herrera is scheduled to sign his new contract in the next few days, which involves a salary cut, and the Buenos Aires club has clarified that it does not have a clause based on productivity or the matches played, unlike the Argentine press.

However, the German team will have to wait until mid-January, as the Royal Society striker will play his last match as a txuri-urdin on 10 January against Atlético de Madrid.

The Babazorro players have received the support of their fans, a push that will suit them very well in the face of Sunday's momentous match in Mendizorroza against the Oviedo.

Fans, mostly families, have been in the stands of San Mamés since an hour before the start of the training. The wait has been threatened with music by the red-white club. The footballers have been greeted with a warm ovation by fans as they jumped onto the lawn on schedule.

"Moving the tournament to another country is not easy for fans. We seem to be playing out of the house there, and if we were here we would have a lot of followers next to us," the Athletic captain added.

The Guipuzcoano coach arrives at the Tenerife club after a brilliant career in the Basque Country's football instructor, SD Eibar, and international experience in the Portuguese Racing Power FC.

After the Christmas break, the Royal returned to work this Monday.  was the first working session of the new coach, Pellegrino Matarazzo, in Zubieta.

Osasuna's 2025 start was poor, with only one win in 18 games . Under Vicente Moreno , the team revived in the spring, losing only one matchin the last 10 days, and looking to Europe. After the league ended, Vicente Moreno left the team and in summer they introduced Alessio Lisci . 

The Navarro club will pay 500,000 euros to Atlético de Madrid to take over the left side. The gala will begin training with Osasuna on the 29th and will be presented on the same day.

The 44-year-old coach arrived at the Madrid club last summer from the Sestao River to lead the second team.

In the King's Cup (the draw will begin at 13:00), Alavés, Athletic, Osasuna and Real Sociedad are ranked; in the Queen's Cup (the draw will begin at 16:30), Real and Athletic will meet their rivals.

The Basque coach arrived at the Greek team in 2024 and has so far led the Piraeus team to win the 2023-2024 Conference League and the 2024-2025 League and Cup.

The Athletic player, at the end of the match between the red-white team and Espanyol, has highlighted how, despite the defeat, he has created opportunities to score more goals; the Navarro has made the only goal of Ernesto Valverde's team.

Berenguer overtook the red-whites in the first half, but before the break Romero tied the match. Back from the locker room, Milla made the second for the Catalans, and the lions couldn't answer.