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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Sid Lowe

Brais Méndez, pick of the Panda Team, takes Real Sociedad to new heights

Brais Méndez (left) celebrates after scoring the only goal of the game against Villarreal.
Brais Méndez (left) celebrates after scoring the only goal of the game against Villarreal. Photograph: Álex Caparrós/Getty Images

“They been waitin’ for this shit for a long time, didn’t they?”

There was once a gang of best mates who spent pretty much all day, every day hanging about together and were really quite good at football. A bunch of kids who reached the playoffs for the country’s senior, professional second division, they played for Celta de Vigo B but called themselves The Panda Team after the track by Desiigner that begins with that line above and became their song, an anthem for another Galician generation that was going places. All sorts of places. Andorra, Morocco, Poland, Cyprus, Greece, Portugal, the Netherlands, Nottingham Forest and even out the game entirely.

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