Bournemouth’s loss is Liga’s gain as Íñigo Pérez’s Rayo hold Real Madrid

Rayo Vallecano celebrate Raul de Tomas’ goal Real Madrid wings in the local derby.Photo: Europa Press Sports/Europa Press/Getty Images” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/1K80Iqlg3GfIO1DV7nW_fw–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU3Ng–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/theguardian_763/8a885be0b92f78f955 51cc86fdda35c9″ data-src= “https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/1K80Iqlg3GfIO1DV7nW_fw–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU3Ng–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/theguardian_763/8a885be0b92f78f95551cc8 6fdda35c9″/>

Íñigo Pérez had nothing to offer the Premier League, they said, so he returned to Spain and instead revived La Liga and a nation. The man from Navarre with his soft voice, privileged mind and impeccable manners should have been sitting on the Bournemouth bench at St James Park this weekend, taking on Newcastle United – trophies since 1955: nil – but the Home Office and a FA panel declared him unfit to compete, a man who could not contribute to English football, even as an assistant. So he brought it back into the neighbourhoodthe new head coach of Rayo Vallecano takes on Real Madrid – trophies since 1955: 85 – and matches them too, making this a better place for everyone.

“Over there is a competition,” read the front cover of one of the country’s sports dailies on Monday morning, an old favorite dusted off for the day. It may have been an exaggeration, it may have turned out to be only 24 hours, and it was “only” a draw, but if so, it is thanks to Pérez’s Rayo team, which on Sunday afternoon, its first ever in this job, managed to do what only Atlético Madrid has done in 2024: get something from Carlo Ancelotti’s side. In the other Madrid Derby, east of the city where worlds collide and the best seats in the house are really in the house, equalized Raúl de Tomás Joselu’s opener to leave Madrid just now six points clear. Now that Girona plays on Monday, there is another title race, a week later that was not the case, that’s how it goes.

“The competition is waking up,” read the AS headline. “Rayo keeps the competition alive with the debut of Inigo Pérez,” claimed Diario de Navarra. But above all, Rayo kept himself alive as some sunshine finally entered Vallecas. They had needed it: Rayo had only won once at home and that was way back in September, despite Vallecas supposedly being a place where it was difficult to reach with its cramped stands, tighter pitch, bumpy surface and wall on one side. The team that was once rock ‘n’ roll, all organized chaos, the most fun you could have in Spanish football, had only outscored Cádiz in the entire competition. first. Worse still, they had been beaten three weeks in a row and six times in eight, having won just once in fourteen. They began to slide towards relegation, with pessimism taking over. So in midweek they fired Francisco Rodríguez and brought in Pérez, the former assistant who was now in charge.

The story continues

There was “sadness” there, Pérez said; it was his job to change that. It just wasn’t a job he planned.

At the age of 36, two years younger than Radamel Falcao, who finished the game for him, and less than two years after making his last appearance as a player, Pérez’s first ever game as head coach was Ancelotti’s 1,324th. Pérez had only been given three days to prepare, except he had been preparing for years. He had seen his team score a goal after three minutes, but achieved a victory that changed everything. At least that was what De Tomás said afterwards, the Freudian slip saying it all. “This win – er, draw – will be good for us,” the striker insisted, a smile returning to Vallecas after scoring his first this season. Of course it was only the first day, even a draw, but it was a start. Something unpredictable, but in the end it worked out.

This is not the way it should have been. Pérez shouldn’t have been here at all. Assistant coach to former Rayo coach Andoni Iraola, he planned to continue in that role. When Iraola left for Bournemouth, Rayo had offered him the job of head coach, but he did not feel “ethically comfortable” taking on the role, believing it was not the intention or what he wanted, and he turned it down. He intended to remain part of Iraola’s staff and Iraola wanted that too. Pérez was basically everything the Bournemouth coach wanted. Instead of bringing six men, Iraola chose two: Pérez and fitness coach Pablo de la Torre.

At least that was the plan. But Pérez did not meet the Ministry of the Interior’s criteria to obtain a work permit as an assistant coach: he had been working for less than two years and did not have the Uefa Pro license. If that judgment was automatically expected, it didn’t happen. Pérez’s case, like most cases and usually successfully, was submitted to an exception panel, led by a lawyer and two former players. There were hearings in June, July and August. Bournemouth argued that its qualification with the Royal Spanish Football Federation was the equivalent of UEFA Pro Title of football technical superiorrequires more than twice as many hours of education and practical training – and provided references from figures from Marseille, Osasuna and Seville. Rayo confirmed they wanted him as head coach, let alone assistant. Iraola wrote explaining why he was so important.

“We tried everything,” Pérez admitted this week. They even tried to get him to coach the youth team, but that didn’t work out – or go down particularly well. Perhaps another club in a different context could have reached a different outcome, but this time the panel did not move an inch, dissatisfied with the fact that Mr Soto, as they called him, was ‘of the highest caliber and capable of to make a significant contribution to the development of the club’. of the game at the highest level in England”.

Pérez, the son of a fruit seller, was always a little different and organized everyone even as a child. Yet there is a lightness in that leadership, a calmness, something that is not very football-like about him. He made his debut for Athletic in 2009 – against Rayo – but when Marcelo Bielsa took over he was one of eight players immediately left out. Pérez regained his place, he and Bielsa became close and the Argentinian’s influence was enormous. That also applied to Ernesto Valverde. And then there was Jagoba Arrasate, under whom he played for seven years, at Numancia and Osasuna.

When Pérez left his loan at Mallorca in 2014 at the age of 26 to return to Athletic, it was, Valverde said, more for him than for them: he had struggled with stress. The day he retired, aged just 33, he published a surprisingly honest, poetic open letter, reflecting an awareness and sensitivity that set him apart. An Athletic Club employee recalls that the first time he met him, unbeknownst to him, was not the first time at all. Íñigo immediately thanked him – a former temporary teacher – for a lesson taught eight years earlier. Asked for his opinion of Pérez this weekend, a man who has worked with him says simply: “He’s the best.” Another adds that “no one has a bad word to say about him,” and this is confirmed. Try this one: “the nicest man I’ve met,” “a phenomenon, so smart; you will never find anyone more polite.”

illarreal 1-1 Getafe, Valencia 0-0 Sevilla, Celta Vigo 1-2 Barcelona, ​​​​Osasuna 2-0 Cádiz, Atlético Madrid 5-0 Las Palmas, Real Betis 0-0 Alavés, Real Mallorca 1-2 Real Sociedad, Granada 1 -1 Almeria, Rayo Vallecano 1-1 Rea Madrid

In that letter, Pérez said he left “without pity and without glory,” both “grateful and ashamed” for having taken more than he deserved. An expert committee would give it a 5.7 out of 10, he said, which now looks rather prophetic. And yet, he noted, there was something, a role in the dressing room – which, he admitted, is something “that is often appreciated when the real objectives for which you sign a player are not met” and yet it was Where. One day Arrasate asked him to give the team speech; it stuck with all of them.

“When he speaks, everyone listens,” says one participant. “He has a great ability to communicate, to reach people. He wrote down everything, analyzed everything: every session, every exercise. He is super intelligent; he sees things differently, analyzes opponents; he is passionate about football and does everything in a natural way. It’s a calling. He understands the game like few do, and is absolutely capable: he has everything to be a great coach.”

Those who saw him saw it. When he retired, Bielsa wanted him as an assistant coach. Osasuna also opened the door. Perez instead joined Iraola. A colleague describes him as follows: “analytical, reflexive, an excellent emotion manager, an in-depth knowledge of the game. Intelligent, with empathy, an excellent communicator.” They were a successful partnership until the split finally forced its hand on them this summer, even if it was resisted for a while. At some Bournemouth games you could see him sitting in the stands behind the bench and he and Iraola would often talk, almost as if he were a call-in consultant. But it wasn’t the same. And as the results at home slipped and the pressure mounted at Rayo, the coach was sacked and the players moved on. There was only one man they wanted, and that was him.

And there he was this weekend: Íñigo Pérez was back in Madrid and not on Tyneside, contributing, against the biggest club of them all. “Sometimes life brings things you never imagined,” he said. “I was enthusiastic about the collaboration with Andoni: we tried, but it wasn’t meant to be. You are here and then this opportunity presents itself. It is proof that you should look at life with happiness and be prepared for whatever comes your way.”