Deportivo Mirandés creating headlines and on the brink of making into La Liga for the first time in the club’s history – it is the success story that just shouldn’t be happening.
This is a team from a community of just 35,000 people, where the players were semi-professional until just over a decade ago, operating from a tiny municipal stadium,
Things were so bad last summer that they had to cancel pre-season games because they didn’t have enough players to form a team. It was a patient wait to see who they could borrow from the nearby Basque clubs before they could hatch a plan.
Ten months later and they’re 90 minutes away from going into the fixture computer with the giants of Spanish football next season. The scouts of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético will need to discover a whole new footballing corner of Spain if they pull it off.
The story is unique – 13- yes, 13 – players are on loan from bigger clubs. The likes of Athletic Club, Real Sociedad and Alavés have used Mirandés as a development club for players on the fringe of their first teams. Their form has been so good, they’ll all be recalled to their parent club next season.
It isn’t just the team that will be disbanded; it’s reported that coach Alessio Lisci has been headhunted by Osasuna.
Together they have defied all the odds. Realistically, you’d expect the form to tail off as the team prepared to break up. It has been quite the opposite.
Mirandés went unbeaten in the final last six games of the season to finish fourth in the Segunda. The achievement was so great, the players joined in the local fiesta. As the other three clubs rested and recovered, the Jabatos squad took to the stage to celebrate.
Racing Santander, Real Oviedo and Almería are clubs whose fans feel they belong in the top league. Club Deportivo Mirandés and the fans were just living the dream.
The story added a couple of new chapters when they brushed aside Racing in the semis and then beat Oviedo in the first leg of the play-off final.
Now, it all comes down to the second leg. All of the pressure is on Oviedo. The Mirandés captain Sergio Postigo summed it up this week when he said: “There’s no obligation to go up; there’s all the excitement in the world.”
He’s one of the few who is contracted for next season. The form of striker Joaquín Panichelli has been so outstanding that his parent club Alavés will likely cash in on him with Strasbourg and Wolves both interested.
Midfielder Jon Gorrotxategi is tipped to slip into the spot vacated at Real Sociedad by Martín Zubimendi who is expected to head to Arsenal for major money,
Expect Hugo Rincón, Unai Egiluz and Urko Izeta to be pushing for places at Athletic Club when they return to Bilbao next season.
It’s a refreshing tale as some of the world’s biggest clubs chase the dollars at the Club World Cup, the motivation of Deportivo Mirandés is purely sporting and bringing joy to a town that has never been on the footballing map.
