“There is not one fan going home with a single ‘but’ tonight,” Real Sociedad forward Takefusa Kubo said. There were plenty not going home at all, not yet. Late Saturday in San Sebastian and if it was finally quiet inside Anoeta, although you swore some of those seats still hadn’t stopped shaking, outside the band played on and the bars kept serving. “This smile will last at least til tomorrow,” Imanol Alguacil, the manager, beamed. Twenty-four hours earlier, he had called the Basque derby the most important match of the year, every year, and now his team had just won it, defeating Athletic Club 3-1. “We’re here to live nights like this,” he insisted.
Born and raised in a nearby fishing village, player, youth team coach and above all fan before taking over the first team at la Real, Alguacil understood what it meant better than anyone, only he would never be so presumptuous as to say so. Asked how he felt during a post-match press conference he knew was packed with writers who are supporters too, he replied: “Pffff, probably the same as you.” It had been, he said and they agreed, “a special, complete night”. Rounded, he called it.
