Xabi Alonso, David Silva and 'the most important moment in the history of Basque football': Ahead of historic Copa del Rey final against Bilbao, Sociedad 長，指導者 tells all on his big 星／主役にするs, why he's not sad ツバメ Odegaard has left for 兵器庫, and more

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A remarkable thing happened in Spanish football 12 months ago ? in an age when fans seem to count for いっそう少なく and いっそう少なく Real Sociedad and 運動競技の Bilbao agreed to 無期限に／不明確に 延期する the Spanish Cup final they were 予定 to contest until 支持者s were 許すd 支援する in to stadiums.

For on-form Real Sociedad it meant 行方不明の out on a 広大な／多数の／重要な chance to put one over on their 地元の 競争相手s. For 運動競技の Club they were waving goodbye to their best chance of making it into Europe. But both decided that they would take a stand for the fans.

'There is a ferocious 競争 between the clubs but we are also 有能な of looking at things from the same 視野 and we both 手配中の，お尋ね者 our fans to be inside the stadium to watch the game,' says Real Sociedad's 冒険的な director Roberto Olabe.

Real Sociedad against 運動競技の Bilbao remains one of Spanish football's greatest derby games

The clubs 延期するd the? Copa del Rey final last year as fans were unable to …に出席する but given the match has to be played before the final of the 2021 版, it will now be held behind の近くにd doors at?La Cartuja in Seville on Saturday

Sadly a year later it turns out the fabulous gesture has not saved what would have been a magical day for both 始める，決めるs of 支持者s.

'I don't think anyone imagined the 残虐な 衝撃 the pandemic was going to have,' Olabe says. 'We know we have to play last year's final before this year's. There's no choice.'

Olabe believes the clubs would have happily gone on waiting 'as long as it takes' were it not for the fact that the 2021 final, between 運動競技の and Barcelona, is 予定 to be played on April 17.

Time marches on and yet these two Basque 競争相手s, 会合 together in Saturday's Spanish Cup fin al for the first time ever, are throwbacks to an 時代 when sport was still more a game than a 商売／仕事.

It's 運動競技の who have the unique Basque-only player 政策 ? Real abandoned it in 1989 with John Aldridge their first ever foreign player ? but they are also bucking the 傾向 to always look for 解答s in the marketplace.

This season they started the （選挙などの）運動をする with 16 players in the first-team squad who had come through the club's 青年 学院. Favourite son Xabi Alonso coaches the Real Sociedad B-team 'Sanse'. And the club's very special 身元 helped them land David Silva.

'We have the Sanse team with an 普通の／平均（する） age of about 20 and on 普通の／平均（する） those players have been at the club for seven years or so,' says Olabe.

'That speaks 容積／容量s for the 安定 here. We have a 責任／義務 to fight for the 可能性のある of our young players.'

The man coaching the players on their last stop before they make the first team is someone who everyone at Real Sociedad hopes will coach the 上級の 味方する one day.

It has been a long wait for Real Sociedad but they are now ready for a match they believe is the biggest game in the history of Basque football, with 地域の pride on the line against 運動競技の

A 重要な part of the club ethos is flooding the first team with 学院 製品s, and that 残り／休憩（する）s on the shoulders of Xabi Alonso (pictured) as he commits to managing the '< span class="mol-style-italic">Sanse' B squad

Olabe is speaking to Sportsmail on the day it's 発表するd that, にもかかわらず considering the 可能性 of starting a new challenge with Borussia Monchengladbach, Alonso will stay in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 at Sociedad for another year.

Wouldn't it be a shame if the club were to 行方不明になる out on his best years as a coach as they did as a player when he joined Liverpool in 2004?

'We had good years from Xabi the player!' says Olabe. 'It was short but we were able to enjoy him for three seasons.

'He's an intelligent guy. I don't know when, I don't know if I'll [still] be here, but I think Xabi will one day coach Real Sociedad.'

It's put to him that he could leave first and then come 支援する to take the reins. '権利 now he is 実行するing a 役割 that the club needs and he is doing it extraordinarily 井戸／弁護士席,' Olabe says. 'And maybe as you say, it could be an "out and then in again" 状況／情勢. I don't know.

'He's ambitious and I want ambitious people here. I want people who want to 改善する and aspire to better themselves.'

Throughout the 雑談（する） Olabe is at 苦痛s to point out that 'La Real' don't want to just be all sizzle and not steak. They want to compete and 勝利，勝つ things, not just produce 広大な／多数の／重要な young players who go どこかよそで.

It remains a grand and 熱烈な occasion and there is 圧倒的な 失望 that the first ever all-Basque final must be held behind の近くにd doors 予定 to the 現在進行中の pandemic

They made a major 声明 in that direction at the start of last season with the 貸付金 調印 from Real Madrid of ツバメ Odegaard and then last summer with the 取得／買収 of Silva.

'The No 10 position is very important in our style of play,' he says. 'It was a time when we 手配中の，お尋ね者 our way of playing to become a bit more 積極的な. We 手配中の，お尋ね者 to still be a passing team but we 手配中の，お尋ね者 to start 偉業／利用するing space.

'We 手配中の，お尋ね者 a player who could play in tight spaces but who was also able to make us a little bit more direct stretching teams not just with runs in behind but with passes.

'And so that is why ツバメ arrived on a two-season 貸付金. But [after one season] because of these things that happen in football 'Martintxo' [his Basque 愛称] had to leave us.'

Real Sociedad consciously looked for an experienced 交替／補充, he says. 'Last season there were times when we had a team with an 普通の／平均（する） age of いっそう少なく than 23.

'The young players need support. They need experienced players around them. That's where Nacho Monreal comes in. Or [goalkeeper] Miguel Angel Moya or David Silva.

'He's been 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の and we have s uffered because he has not been able to play all the games that we would have liked him to. He gives us so much in the final third.'

ツバメ Odegaard (権利) starred for Real Sociedad last season but has since moved on

The club managed to 新採用する David Silva and he will play a 重要な 役割 in the Copa del Rey final

Olabe's enthusiasm for Silva is impossible to 含む／封じ込める and he loves the dressing-room 人物／姿／数字 as much as the magician on the pitch.

'He gives us experience. He gives us 専門的知識 that the younger players can learn from. And that is just what you see,' he says. 'Then there is everything you don't see on the pitch.'

Using a brilliant Spanish phrase that translates literally 'he's a little bit vinegar' he goes on: 'David is a 需要・要求するing guy. He is not all sweetness and light. He's about more than just the lovely football that he plays, he is someone who energises the whole club for those moments when we need to remember we are here to compete.'

Real Sociedad only turned to Silva late in pre-season after they were told Odegaard would not be returning for the second year of his 貸付金.

Does it sadden him to see Odegaard now playing at 兵器庫? 'I'm delighted to see him enjoying his football,' he says. 'I think we helped ツバメ and he helped us.

'We knew that playing 同様に as he played for us, his time with us would come to an end. We are just glad he was here. He's one of us now.'

Other players could also become 首相 League 的s in time. Manchester City have looked in the past at 今後 Mikel Oyarzabal.

'We want to keep our best players from all 世代s to have the best possible team,' Olabe says.

Mikel Oyarzabal is the 星／主役にする 現れるing from San Sebastian and will be 推定する／予想するd to 配達する?

'And to do that you have to not just 勝利，勝つ but you also have to connect with the fans in a way that makes them feel like they are 存在 代表するd ? they 苦しむ [watching us] but in a fun way, because there's plenty of 苦しむing in their day to day lives that isn't fun.

'What we try to do with the young players is make them see that this is their place.

'Mikel Oyarzabal is 23 and he has played over 200 games already. The young players can see that we want to keep growing and that this is a good place for them.

'Financially we cannot compete. And we 港／避難所't played the 支持する／優勝者s League since 2013. But we want them to see that the club has a 計画（する） and that they are not staying to be part of our 事業／計画（する） ? it is their 事業／計画（する）.'

Saturday will be a day for those young players and for the 支持者s, albeit watching at home instead of having made the 600-mile 旅行 to Seville for the game.

A 4-0 Europa League 敗北・負かす to Manchester 部隊d might have deflated the club en-大勝する to the historic occasion but they have bounced 支援する with a strong league run.

'I think we didn't 準備する the game 井戸／弁護士席. Not ーに関して／ーの点でs of tactically but ーに関して／ーの点でs of the circumstances,' says Olabe of the loss to 部隊d.

'We couldn't play in Spain. When I heard that Granada and Madrid were going to be able to play their games at home I feel we were （国外逃亡犯を）引き渡すd having had to play the game in Turin.

運動競技の Bilbao have two 決勝戦 in two weeks but the all-Basque final will mean that bit more

'We had to 準備する an event in Turin. The game became a bit 第２位. But it's not an excuse. We are young. And I'm not talking the players' ages. I'm talking about the time we have been together.'

A トロフィー from the first ever all-Basque final would cap a milestone couple of years for this young group. Likewise it would be 抱擁する moment for 運動競技の, who have already won the Spanish 最高の Cup this year.

'In 純粋に football 条件 this is the most important moment in the history of Basque football because this is 2021 in a 全く different 状況／情勢 to the eighties (when Real Sociedad and 運動競技の won four leagues between them) - here we have two historic clubs who want to 勝利，勝つ,' says Olabe.

'This is an important moment. It could have happened a year ago, it could happen again in a year's time. Let's hope so!

'I don't want to be thinking that this final is the end of something. I hope it's the first of many.'