Each coach has a different relationship with the press conferences. Some can’t stand them and live them as an obligation, others seem to suffer, and those with the worst character are always on the defensive. But moving skillfully between journalistic darts is an art when we talk about Javier Aguirre, one of those characters who has the ability to constantly generate witty phrases, to convince without being funny or pedantic. The Mexican coach is very comfortable when he has to communicate his message, and he also tends to persuade and motivate. Whether it’s an outburst or an insult, in Aguirre’s mouth everything sounds different. Criticism is less hurtful, the product of an eloquence impossible to imitate.
In Mallorca he has managed to convince almost from the first day. When he arrived last season, the team was relegated to one point from safety and with nine games to go. He left it in Primera in a last agonizing day. Vasco also feels comfortable in these life-or-death battles, a coach who is given to performing miracles. Aguirre is someone teams call on when they have a problem that no one can solve, much like the Wolf in Pulp Fiction. A achiever who over the years has greatly improved his method.
This December he will be 65 years old. But his journey in Spain began two decades ago now, when he returned to Pamplona to train Osasuna, where he had played a season as a footballer. Of parents with Basque origins, Aguirre spent four courses there before making the leap to Atlético de Madrid. It was when he left the Calderón that he began his facet as a miracle man. First, in Zaragoza in 2011. There he managed to stay on the last day in a match against Levante that came to trial for possible fixing, later ruled out. Two years later, in 2012, he joined Espanyol, his rival this Saturday (2:00 p.m.). The team coached by Mauricio Pochettino was bottom team after nine games. Aguirre saved him six days in advance.
For his next adventure in Spain, he would have to wait until the 2019-20 season, when he took over the bench of another bottom team, Leganés. The team’s situation worsened when its two forwards left in the winter transfer window: Braithwaite and En-Nesyri. “I think they screwed us. You can’t imagine that going in last place we get buzzed by two players, like this, boom, ventilate. But today the sun has risen and as long as FIFA lets us play with eleven, fantastic, ”he said after the departure of his forwards. This time the miracle did not occur in another agonizing ending against Real Madrid. A penalty not called by Jovic’s hands condemned them to relegation.
This year he has turned his Mallorca, with the sixth lowest budget in the championship, into one of the great revelations. After 22 games he is only three points away from the Europa League having made Son Moix a fortress. There he has achieved five consecutive victories, the last two against Real Madrid and Villarreal. His Achilles heel is at home, where he accumulates four straight losses. It is there where Espanyol wants to take advantage of an ex who he has good memories of. Diego Martínez will remain in doubt until the last moment about Joselu, César Montes, Calero and Rubén Sánchez, with physical discomfort.
