As surprising and unexpected as it may seem to many, Real's trip to Nice will be forever marked by the breakfast that Roberto Olabe organised at Anoeta in the minutes before leaving . The director of football was not keen on appearing before the media after a turbulent transfer window and a very disappointing start to the League by the team and, despite the fact that several voices in the club were not very in agreement with his idea, he decided that the format of his address to the media would be a fairly informal conversation without recorders or cameras.
Disagreement among journalists
As he was finishing a speech, in which it was obvious that some journalists were not asking him questions as a sign of disagreement, one of those present , quite rightly, told him that this way of appearing was not valid for radio or television. Soon more colleagues joined in the complaint and things became quite tense. With no time to prolong the debate any further, the journey to Nice was set off.
20During the journey, the subject monopolised all conversations between club representatives and special envoys and, upon arrival at the airport, Aperribay was jokingly informed that the Nice mutiny had broken out, which left him quite perplexed as he had not known anything about what had happened before being brought up to date. Olabe himself and the journalist of the discussion continued to talk , now privately, in a control queue in which a Japanese fan could not fail to appear to ask Take Kubo for a signature and a photograph .
Things calmed down a bit when we boarded the Polish plane, which also had staff from that country, which took us to the city on the Côte d'Azur. It was a pity that the weather was not good, since the landing manoeuvre took place in front of the long seafront promenade of the beautiful city.
On the way to the stadium
The club hotel was just a few metres from the airport and, after lunch and a rest, the txuri-urdin delegation went to the Allianz Riviera stadium. When we all got back together, it was clear that both sides had given the situation, the just claim and the ways in which the discontent had been expressed a lot of thought. But now everything was done in a much more thoughtful , calm and focused way.
News conference
Nayef Aguerd was chosen by the club to appear alongside Imanol before the local and Guipuzcoan press . It was curious, because, while we waited, we explained to the translator, who was the same one who had been with Real when they played in Monaco and who was an irreproachable professional , one of the best that we remember on Real's European trips , that the coach was going to attend to the two media outlets that needed him first in Basque and that they would then be able to ask the questions they needed in Spanish .
Apart from some who were more grumpy and ill-tempered than others, the matter did not go any further and, above all, when the representatives of Real appeared on the scene, they did not make any bad faces when they heard the explanations of how the press conference was going to take place. It was funny that they did start to discuss the matter among themselves until a journalist told them coherently: "Be careful, because Donostia is next to France and surely more than one of you knows how to speak French." Obviously, the special correspondents were laughing because the one who spoke the neighbouring language was translating everything to his colleagues. But it had nothing to do with a lack of respect for the Basque language or for the journalists . It should be noted that afterwards the treatment was very good and the club lived up to the European demands .
Local Questions
More surprising and even annoying were the two questions that the good Aguerd had to endure from the local media: How can a defender prepare to stop a team that has just scored eight goals? And, the most incredible: Are they afraid after seeing Nice's thrashing ? The Moroccan could not suppress his laughter and remembered that Real had a lot of experience in Europe and that they could also ask the Nice players if they were afraid after seeing the Champions League they won the previous season .
As usual, Imanol did not disappoint in his first European press conference and left a vindictive, accurate and forceful message about the team's situation . "A few months ago we were the envy of all of Europe." And the memory for his haters and his invitation to return to the cave . Let everyone interpret whether he was more or less successful, but his speech did not sound improvised, although he likes to defend that he never prepares his press conferences.
Eve
In a city that still has a great tourist atmosphere, the match went completely unnoticed the day before. There was not a single blue-and-white shirt to be seen in the most famous places in Nice . What's more, the next day, when the 200 or so Real Sociedad fans began to appear in dribs and drabs, in their colours , a young woman approached them to ask when the match was and at what time. Apparently, in France they are also overwhelmed by the calendar.
The capital of the Côte d'Azur woke up to a summer day , as evidenced by the fact that its rocky beach was full of bathers and people sunbathing. It is true that there were very few of them and they were scattered around the city, but the reality is that they were very encouraged and motivated to give their all and make themselves noticed on the field . They did not yet know what awaited them…
Some met up with Jokin Aperribay and Xabi Prieto , who were going to the board lunch.
The president explained to them that they had put all kinds of obstacles in their way. They were asked to facilitate the movement of their fans because the French ultras had caused many incidents in the run-up to last Friday's match against Saint-Étienne when, as they were not allowed to ambush the visitors , they confronted the gendarmes in an aggressive manner. If there was any sin to be sinned against, the French police preferred to do so by going overboard and setting conditions that were beyond comprehension .
In his desire to keep them under control, he chose a meeting point ten kilometres from the city centre, to which no more than fifteen people went, and then forced everyone to go to the countryside in shuttle buses. Most of the 200 heroes admitted to being quite upset and angry with the organisation of the trip and with the impositions they had received.
23The Ertzaintza police officers who travelled with Real were very worried about the local ultras, who, to give you an idea, went hunting for blue and white shirts when the team visited Monaco and most of the displaced people were staying in their city. That is, without a sporting duel in between .
Safety measures
When you get to the stadium's surroundings, you better understand the precautionary measures and it is appreciated that, although there are some twists and turns with the visits to Donostia by Belgians, Dutch and Greeks, at least the radicals from Nice do not pass through Donostia . There were many of them, very dangerous and surprisingly hostile . The welcome to the txuri-urdin team even impressed several members of the delegation , who did not expect it to be so much.
Great hobby
If they were scary outside the stadium, the truth is that, flares and smoke bombs aside, inside the stadium their way of cheering was impressive and spectacular. Located in the second ring of one of the ends, they did not stop cheering for the 90 minutes that the match lasted. Guided by one of their leaders, who will most likely be without a voice on Thursday after having given everything. One of the stadiums with the most atmosphere that Real has visited lately despite the fact that the rest of the stands did not present a great appearance due to many unoccupied seats. The visitors were also a bit sad to see our team occupying only the centre of the same and, although at times they were heard and they celebrated the Real goal in a big way (including a dance with their backs turned, of course), the truth is that the fervour of the locals crushed them in decibels .
Post-match
Immediately after the match, Jon Martín and Barrenetxea were in charge of dealing with the media . With hardly any time for anything, the official delegation and the media went straight to the airport, where in a small, private waiting room, with the spoils of a point in their pockets , the peace of Nice between the journalist and Olabe was staged, a circumstance that we all celebrated, as it could not be otherwise.
Next destinations
On the plane we had to wait another half hour (the tanker truck arrived late to refuel the aircraft) and finally the flight took off at two in the morning. In the middle there was the usual card game , although most people were resting in the dark . The atmosphere was not one of euphoria, but there was a palpable joy for the game and for the point won. At 3.30 the expedition landed in Vitoria, to set off by road to Zubieta , where they arrived just after 5.30. Staying overnight at the facilities was optional, although, given the time and that training was scheduled for 13.00, most opted to do so. Next European stage: Anderlecht , at home. Second adventure in the old continent and this one for real: the visit to Maccabi in Belgrade .
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