An Osasunista in El Sadar

“It's going to be strange,” he confessed in the preview Inigo Perez with his usual calmness to transmit the message to the microphones. “In the coaching staff we joke. The first time I faced Rayo I was in Osasuna and we won the last minutes (2021-22 season, goal from Manu Sánchez). Then I became second coach with Rayo and we lost in the last minutes (2022-23 season, goal from Ruben Garcia). Last year he was in the stands because he had already returned from England (2023-24 season, Osasuna won again with a goal from Raúl in the last few minutes). This year will be the first time that I will be the first coach. I hope the result changes.”

The date is special for the Chantreano, who turned 37 this Saturday and is living his second year in Vallecas, his first since the summer. The results and the team's play support him for now. He has managed to stabilize his team in the middle zone to escape relegation and he does so with that seal typical of the intensity, speed and organization.

“You already know that I am from there, I have played there,” he told journalists in Madrid to differentiate the emotional from the professional. “In the run-up, that kind of emotional bond is always generated, we talk about it, we answer questions, but once you get there that doesn't exist. In fact, if it is the case because of that bond, you prefer to win harder than ever because of what remains after the game with friends and family (he said it smiling).”

There was a very specific question for the midfielder who defended the Osasuna shirt from 2018 to 2022 and left his mark on the locker room and the club for his leadership and way of understanding football. “Is it your dream to ever coach Osasuna?”they questioned him. He was correct in answering although he slipped his illusion. “It's always special to come home, I'm an Osasunista, I've played there… but I'm not going much further than today's training. One can imagine and one can get excited about it, but it is not something that takes a lot of energy from me.”. In June, by the way, the contract ends.

Rayo has just fallen in the Cup and a strong Osasuna awaits in El Sadar. “You have to recover emotionally and they have had an important emotional boost for achieving a victory in San Mamés. That plus how comfortable and safe they appear in their home makes it difficult. I expect an open match with alternatives”.

“The players demand minutes that, sometimes, a coach, for whatever reason, cannot offer them.” Iñigo Pérez has always sought the best for Rayo over names of high magnitude. Without putting on a bad face and offering bad answers, the Navarrese coach has had to digest dozens of questions at press conferences about James Rodriguezbest player in the last Copa América who arrived in Vallecas as a brand new signing. It has been a personality test in the face of the media pressure that has tried to influence. Part of the press of Spain and Colombia, with information far from reality. The results have proven him right. The team has been above the star. There are no privileges if you don't compete. Iñigo has the support of Vallecas, who cheered him on the last day, and of the locker room. However, after James' departure to Mexico, the Chantrean expressed a self-critical tone that makes him close. “I will have a reason for why I have not been able to extract the maximum potential and it is part of my job to be able to grow.”

Iñigo Pérez took the alternative in the middle of last season as head coach. Rayo claimed him after Francisco's dismissal. The former rojillo had returned from England because due to bureaucratic problems he could not have a work permit to be Andoni Iraola's assistant at Bournemouth. It was a setback not being able to savor the Premiership experience. Between games and games in El Sadar from the stands, The phone rang and he accepted, being only 36 years old. The challenge did not scare him. In the locker room there was a player older than him, Falcao, and the average was 29. He was the fourth youngest in the major European leagues.

During his playing days, his voice was always heard and respected. Of command and intelligence on the field, he exploited an exquisite left foot while absorbing lessons from Bielsa to Arrasate. He left Osasuna in 2022 without having any luck with injuries and discarded offers from professional football to start a life on the bench, first as second to Iraola, a friend and teammate in his time at Athletic. Jagoba also wanted him to join the coaching staff, but he chose to follow another path. In February he will celebrate one year as a First Division coach. His right-hand man is Adrián López, another former rojillo at this stage of the First Division.

In the history of the top category, there have been eleven other Navarrese coaches. Of them, seven have coached Osasuna (Urdíroz, Salvatierra, Alzate, Zabalza, Martín, Ziganda and Gracia).