'Winning with Athletic fulfils me more than 10 titles anywhere else'

Bilbao's goalkeeper Unai Simón on the special atmosphere of playing for their fans and the return to the Champions League against Arsenal today

- Sid Lowe

Sometimes you need some luck; that was mine,” Unai Simón says. “What I thought might happen in five, six, seven years happened in 19 days.”

It was August 2018, Simón was 21 and although he had been training at Athletic Club for a decade, and with the first team for three years, the son of police officers from Vitoria didn’t think there was a chance of playing in Bilbao any time soon, if at all. It was all he wanted but he didn’t even live there any more, moving 800km in search of an opportunity with second division Elche. Which is when weird things started to happen.

Chelsea signed Kepa Arrizabalaga. Iago Herrerín got injured. And negotiations over a contract renewal with Alex Remiro stalled, Athletic deciding that they couldn't play him. So they called Elche and asked for their goalkeeper back. He hadn’t even played a game.

Actually that’s not entirely true; not if you include friendlies. “I only played once at the [Estadio] Martínez Valero and we won a trophy: the [preseason] Lady of Elche Cup,” Simón says, laughing. “And I went from that, from fourth choice and out on loan, to playing at San Mamés on 20 August.

“I had to try to build my career somewhere else and hope that somehow, something would open up at Athletic in six or seven years and they might still have me in mind,” Simón adds. “Suddenly you're given that opportunity and you’re shitting yourself. I didn’t sleep well.

“San Mamés was packed, there were fiestas in Bilbao. You're playing Leganes, who might not be the biggest opponents but for me it was like the Champions League final. In the opening minutes, there’s a ball I don’t come for and Yuri [Berchiche] gives me such a shout, screaming. And I think: ‘Shit, here we go.’ From that moment, everything changes.”