There is a fair case that sports clubs would have been going to play in the Champions League this season, rather than facing Manchester United to take a place in Bilbao's European Rugby League final, if not too much beer.

There is no debate or clickbait in this assertion. Although there isn't much to say, it's hard to deny.

Just a year ago, Sports Achievement won Copa del Rey for the first time in 40 years, and then they participated in the fanaticism. When the designated day came (April 13), they took that absolutely huge grand old trophy and launched the sacred trophy barge It was the first time that it crawled along the Bilbao waterway since 1984. Big time.

“barge"Just "River Barge." The celebration uses were established in 1983 as a sports league championship and repeated doubles in 1984, but never set sail since then. It became a working riverboat for cargo, then retired, then dragged out the 2024 celebration from Bilbao's Maritime Museum.

There were 162 ships on the river that day and 1 million fans on the bank. It was a fleet of red and white. When you limit yourself to the club signing and sending Basque-born/developed soccer players only, each trophy is worth 10 times that of a normal celebration.

The celebrations were huge - the heavy, red and white of the Basque masses - and the football players of Ernesto Valverde, from barge With sailors all the time to heal the coast's vacation: the opportunity to dance, sing and drink, party until the last person called time, as the sun rises.

The next night, San Mamés played a game against Villarreal, which was crucial to the victory if the nasty Atlético Madrid was to be imposed in fourth place.

When the yellow submarine met drunk sailors on April 14, the athletics led 1-0 until it entered downtime, exhausted as they moved around. Officials frowned after the referees were furious and gasping, but for most of the second half, their dominance against 10 Villarreal men did not add a second or third goal.

Dani Parejo scored from the scene, deflation dominated the stadium, training ground, city.

“Calling in the plane bargethat 2.5 hour trip along the river to San Mames, we drank beer like animals. barge Experience is like, but it is very special to live.

"It was a tough week; the next night we played Villarreal and we beat them almost when we were drunk! They only equalized in the 95th minute - a penalty for the top corner."

The Hangover swept the next home game, which was only against relegated Granada. These four wasted points mean athleticism lags behind the Madrid club’s three-pointer in the following week, rather than leading. They lost, that's it. Fourth and Champions League football, slipped by the same finger that just won and joy.

Now, no one complains.

Athletic has never won the European trophy, let alone joining the very small four clubs (Real Madrid, Inter, Barcelona, ​​Feyenoord) who have won the UEFA knockout single-game final of their own stadium over the past 70 years. That's what drives them this week and the next: Europa League semi-final rival Manchester United is respected, decorated, but…on the way.

These two clubs have a lot in common, if not the size of their trophy cabinets.

For example: How many gyms have nicknames, let alone nicknames as famous as real names? Manchester United plays at Dream Theatre; the home of sports is the cathedral. The original St. Mammes Stadium opened in 1913 when the sports club purchased land that annexed pensions and the location of the former Saint Mammes church. Local legends said someone commented: "It used to be a church, but I think they will build a cathedral now." That's it.

The stadium was named after the old chapel - in order to distinguish it from the retirement home - given that the Romans threw the holy mammals to the lions (the legend he preached to them), the sport and their players have been nicknamed "" for the past 112 years.lion"("lion").

Every cathedral needs someone to worship, in this case it is Valverde (nicknamed ""TLE"This is the Basque of "Ants".

When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was fired, he almost became Man United's manager. There are conversations, but as often happens in football, they wither rather than bloom.

A few years later Valverde explained to his friend Lu Martín, "Okay, I'll go to the UK, but it often doesn't work for some reason or another. Life is the environment, right? After the end of Barcelona, ​​the fact is, the fact is... I could go to some places, but I really don't like what I say...

He was a fairly good guy, Valverde: an electronic engineer, a publishing photographer, a rock guitarist, a cyclist who was prone to slapping 80km of rides, while those who grew up in the Basque conflict in the 1970s admit that he admitted that “it seemed attractive to local police.”

He lost the final of this game twice, both Espanyol (as a player and a manager). Next week will be his first time in North West England That Anfield was in the 2019 experience when Liverpool stood out 4-0 to win the Champions League semifinals 4-3.

Now is his moment and the sport: the Cathedral, then the Theatre - the Pantheon of Football is waiting for the winner.

The most perfect description of sports club I've ever heard is former striker Aritz Aduriz.

"I believe athleticism is not just a club for our fans. It's like a philosophy, a small religion," he said. "All sports fans think that clubs are part of them. They feel like they are part of the team. When people go to San Mames, they also go to compete, and they are surrounded by their teams, they grow up in the same environment, have the same culture, have very similar personal characteristics. They are a family, they are a family, they are sports with their people, opposing their own global competition.

"This connection between the people and the team is very different from what happens in other clubs. When the sports struggles, the fans are struggling. So, they help the team perform well because it's part of them."

Match: Sports against Manchester United and the rest of the world.