The Pride of Vallekas

Imanol Etxeberria, in 2002, moved to Rayo Vallecano, replacing the departed Kasey Keller. In his first season he became the regular goalkeeper over veteran Julen Lopetegui (also from Gipuzkoa) who retired at the end of that campaign. In 2002-03 he was the starter for most games but was challenged by Sergio Segura, and the club was relegated after four years in La Liga. Rayo suffered a second successive relegation in 2004 - in a chaotic campaign, Etxeberria played in eight matches at the beginning of the season under Lopetegui (in his first appointment as head coach) but was largely overlooked in favour of Segura by his successor Jorge D'Alessandro, who then brought in another goalkeeper, his compatriot Sebastián Saja, on loan. D'Alessandro was then replaced by Txetxu Rojo, who again had no place in his plans for Etxeberria - he was sent away from Rayo altogether and trained with Bilbao Athletic until the season's end. There would be four managerial spells. Julen Lo...

I interviewed Mikel Alonso in December 2015, where he opened up about his hiatus from professional football. You can read it here . He agreed to a second interview, where I ask some more questions about his experiences as a footballer. This is that interview. Before Real Sociedad, you were playing for Antiguoko. This is an academy that has produced amazing footballers such as yourself, your brother, Mikel Arteta, etc. What is it that differs it from other academies? Did you see anyone play there who you knew were going to be playing top level football - apart from yourself, of course! We worked a lot on technique and skills. It was a different kind of academy. The coaches made all the difference - Iñigo Santin, Pitu, Txurun, Oscar, Kepa Estebanez and many others. They loved this game and show us how to love it and understand it. We tried to look at the big picture of various game situations. They were inspirational. The managers were really passionate and tried to pick the b...