The semi-final draw of Spain's Copa del Rey has taken shape, with Barcelona having defeated a rather thuggish Real Madrid on Wednesday evening to progress to the semis, where they will face Valencia, who a day later rounded off a comprehensive 7:1 aggregate win against Levante. Your correspondent is a happy man, as, after a 3:0 aggregate win against Real Mallorca, Athletic Bilbao have qualified for the semis, where they have been drawn against..Mirandés. Mirandés? Who they, I hear you ask?
Well, Club Deportivo Mirandés, to give them their full name, play in the Segunda División Group B, and hail from the small town of Miranda de Ebro in Burgos province, which in turn is part of the "autonomous community" (autonomous region, in other words) of Castilla y León. Miranda de Ebro has a population nudging 40000 people, and while the attention of the vast majority of the Spanish and world media was, this week at least, fixed on El Clásico, Mirandés, who play in the third tier of Spanish football, were busying themselves with planning and executing the Tuesday-night downfall of Barça's near-neighbours Español.
Mirandés have never previously come close to qualifying for the semi-final stages of any major competition before, apart from getting through to the last 16 in the Copa Del Rey in 2004-05, when they lost 3:1 on aggregate over two legs to Real Betis, though they creditably drew 0:0 to their Sevillian opponents.
Mirandés had already moved mountains in beating La Liga sides UD Salamanca and Real Sociedad (on penalties) to get as far as they did back then. The year before, in 2003-04, Mirandés had qualified for the First Round proper of the Copa del Rey for the very first time, and, after disposing of UD Fraga, eventually lost to Real Zaragoza in the Second Round.
Since then, Mirandés lost to Basque side Barakaldo CF in the First Round in 2007-08, and to Barcelona Segunda Division B side UE Sant Andreu the following season, when they were still in the Tercera División (Spain's fourth tier). Mirandés were promoted to the Segunda División B the next season, but failed to progress in the Copa del Rey in 2009-10 and 2010-11, when they actually finished as runners-up in Segunda B, but lost to Guadalajara on away goals in the final round of promotion play-offs. Co-incidentally, 2001 UEFA Cup runners-up Alavés - remember them? - also failed to get through the promotion play-offs last season.
This season, Mirandés, whose home strip consists of red shirts, black shorts and red socks, have been going great guns and currently find themselves top of the tree in the Segunda División B (with Alavés in fourth place, by the way) and having reached the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey via an eventfully scenic route (if that makes any sense to you, dear reader), starting off by overcoming yet another Basque side, SD Amorebieta, 1:0 away in the First Round last August, thanks to a goal by Iván Agustín, then defeating RB Linense, from La Línea de la Concepción on Spain's border with Gibraltar, 3:1 on home turf at Miranda de Ebro's own 6000-capacity Estadio Anduva, at the start of September.
Mid-October saw a Third Round tie at home to SD Logroñés, a club which rose from the ashes of erstwhile La Liga side CD Logroñés, which went bust in 2009. Mirandés bounced home with a 3:1 victory, and this saw them move into the last 32, together with the big boys, with the Third Round due to be played last month.
Outside of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia, Spain's "big boys" don't come much bigger than Villareal, yet strange things were about to happen in the run up to Christmas. Having drawn 1:1 at home, Mirandés were to upset their illustrious opponents by superbly winning 2:0 away four days before Yuletide, thanks to a double-strike from Pablo Infante (known simply as Pablo), making it a very happy Christmas in one corner of Burgos province.
The New Year was to get off to a flying start, too, with Mirandés winning 2:0 at home to another La Liga side, Racing Santander, in the Fourth Round on 3 January, and finishing the job off a week later with a very respectable 1:1 draw.
And then along came Español in the quarter-finals, and the first-leg took place at Español's Cornellà-El Prat stadium seven days after the fourth-round triumph over Racing. Mirandés more than held their own for most of the game, and indeed raced into a two-goal lead with just minutes to go after Alain Arroyo had ensured a 1:0 half-time advantage for the visitors, which was doubled with 12 minutes to go by that man Pablo. A shock result was averted this time round, however, thanks to 3-goal spurt from Español in the last 5 minutes of normal time when Mirandés' defence simply seemed to evaporate in the cool air of a Barcelona winter's evening. Spanish newspaper El Mundo's headline the following day said it all: "85 minutes of glory, five of disaster."
So, in Tuesday evening last, it was all to play for at Mirandés' tiny, compact yet athmospheric Estadio Anduva, which was filled, sardine tin-like, to its 6000 capacity. After a scoreless first-half, Español scored with one of only two shots they had on target throughout the whole game, but Mirandés drew level on the night ten minutes later after a speculative effort from Pablo - who else? - somehow found its way past the Español goalkeeper.
The visitors were still a goal to the good over the two legs, and, as the second-half went into five minutes of injury-time, it was looking increasingly desperate for Mirandés, who needed to score just once to reach the semi-finals on away goals. However, the team with the propensity of upsetting the apple-cart in this season's Copa del Rey were to blow it into smithereens two minutes into injury-time, with defender César Caneda, completely unmarked, heading home a free-kick to send all in attendance, apart from the tiny contingent of Español supporters, into an ecstatic frenzy.
The final-whistle ushered in scenes of unbridled joy and a scenario which those who founded the club back in May 1927 would most probably have never thought possible - Club Deportes Mirandés were through to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.
The Spanish press were full of praise for Mirandés' efforts on Wednesday morning. The national daily newspaper Marca said that the team had shown "unwavering faith."
"Mirandés always believed in their chances. That faith and the warmth from the stands were decisive..They who took risks won."
Local newspaper La Voz del Ebro said that the team "has once again demonstrated that it knows no boundaries or barriers..It was hoped that the Segunda B team had the strength, faith and quality to make a new gesture. But they did, and with goals from Pablo [Infante] and [César] Caneda, the team are now in the semi-finals."
The headline in El Mundo, meanwhile, was "Mirandés of the miracles", and their article began with the following (and who could disagree?):
"Football is great. Only in this sport can the little eat the big as Mirandés Español. Rockets sounding in the night over a city depressed, like many, by the economic crisis, but one that has been made happy."
Athletic Bilbao head off to Miranda de Ebro this coming Tuesday for the first-leg of their semi-final, which is, in essence, virtually a local derby, as Bilbao and Miranda de Ebro are only 50 or so miles apart. The second-leg will take place at Athletic's San Mamés stadium, the famed "Catedral." It should be a memorable night, whatever happens. Valencia host Barça at the Mestalla on 1/2/12, with the return taking place at the Camp Nou a week later.
In time, only the team which wins this season's Copa del Rey will be remembered outside Spain, but it makes a nice change to be able to report on a story which doesn't concern the top two or three in Spanish football, and it is refreshing to see a team from the third tier of a leading footballing nation casting the form-book asunder, especially in this day and age when the smaller clubs (and, thus, the lower divisions) being set adrift by those at the top.
Who said giant-killing only happens in the FA Cup? Coverage of the second-leg (in Spanish), culled from YouTube but shown originally live on the Cuatro television station, can be viewed via the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6KGS6AsGFE
Even if Mirandés do not make it past Athletic and absurdly, improbably, wonderfully, reach the final of the Copa del Rey, they are more than well-placed to reach the Segunda División "proper" for the first time in the club's history. That is, perhaps, a more realistic goal, and one which should be no less lauded if attained. Time will, as always, tell. Good luck to them.
Hail the conquering heroes, all..:
CLUB DEPORTIVO MIRANDÉS FIRST-TEAM SQUAD
GOALKEEPERS: 1 ADRIÁN MURCIA SÁNCHEZ, 13 NAUZET PÉREZ GONZÁLEZ
DEFENDERS: 2 Iñaki GARMENDIA LARREA, 3 ERNESTO AMANTEGUI PHUMIPHA, 4 César Fernandez DE LAS HERAS CANEDA, 6 RAÚL GARCÍA FERNANDÉZ, 19 Mikel IRIBAS ALIENDE, 21 Álvaro CORRAL ECHAZARRETA, 22 AITOR BLANCO ALDEANO
MIDFIELDERS: 5 Ignacio "NACHO" GARRO GÓMEZ, 7 Antxón MUNETA BELDARRAIN, 8 Roberto IVÁN AGUSTÍN SUÁREZ, 12 JOSÉ ANGÉL JURADO DE LA TORRE, 15 Mikel MARTINS DAS NEVES, 17 Ramón BORRELL IGLESIAS
FORWARDS: 9 Alain ARROYO MARTINEZ DE LA CUADRA,10 Ander LAMBARRI CAMINO, 11 Haritz MÚJIKA LÓPEZ, 14 PABLO INFANTE MUÑOZ, 20 Asier BARAHONA BREGÓN
MANAGEMENT STAFF
MANAGER: Carlos POUSO
ASSISTANT MANAGER: Lluis CODINA
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Information contained in this article was obtained from the newspapers mentioned in same, a little taken from Wikipedia and the above link from YouTube. Information, including details of the first-team squad, was also taken from the CD Mirandés website: http://www.cdmirandes.com/index.shtml
(Apologies, too, for the rather poor standard of translation from the original Spanish-language text; together with an online translator, your correspondent's poor standard of Spanish undid all the hard work of the original scribes..)
Well, Club Deportivo Mirandés, to give them their full name, play in the Segunda División Group B, and hail from the small town of Miranda de Ebro in Burgos province, which in turn is part of the "autonomous community" (autonomous region, in other words) of Castilla y León. Miranda de Ebro has a population nudging 40000 people, and while the attention of the vast majority of the Spanish and world media was, this week at least, fixed on El Clásico, Mirandés, who play in the third tier of Spanish football, were busying themselves with planning and executing the Tuesday-night downfall of Barça's near-neighbours Español.
Mirandés have never previously come close to qualifying for the semi-final stages of any major competition before, apart from getting through to the last 16 in the Copa Del Rey in 2004-05, when they lost 3:1 on aggregate over two legs to Real Betis, though they creditably drew 0:0 to their Sevillian opponents.
Mirandés had already moved mountains in beating La Liga sides UD Salamanca and Real Sociedad (on penalties) to get as far as they did back then. The year before, in 2003-04, Mirandés had qualified for the First Round proper of the Copa del Rey for the very first time, and, after disposing of UD Fraga, eventually lost to Real Zaragoza in the Second Round.
Since then, Mirandés lost to Basque side Barakaldo CF in the First Round in 2007-08, and to Barcelona Segunda Division B side UE Sant Andreu the following season, when they were still in the Tercera División (Spain's fourth tier). Mirandés were promoted to the Segunda División B the next season, but failed to progress in the Copa del Rey in 2009-10 and 2010-11, when they actually finished as runners-up in Segunda B, but lost to Guadalajara on away goals in the final round of promotion play-offs. Co-incidentally, 2001 UEFA Cup runners-up Alavés - remember them? - also failed to get through the promotion play-offs last season.
This season, Mirandés, whose home strip consists of red shirts, black shorts and red socks, have been going great guns and currently find themselves top of the tree in the Segunda División B (with Alavés in fourth place, by the way) and having reached the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey via an eventfully scenic route (if that makes any sense to you, dear reader), starting off by overcoming yet another Basque side, SD Amorebieta, 1:0 away in the First Round last August, thanks to a goal by Iván Agustín, then defeating RB Linense, from La Línea de la Concepción on Spain's border with Gibraltar, 3:1 on home turf at Miranda de Ebro's own 6000-capacity Estadio Anduva, at the start of September.
Mid-October saw a Third Round tie at home to SD Logroñés, a club which rose from the ashes of erstwhile La Liga side CD Logroñés, which went bust in 2009. Mirandés bounced home with a 3:1 victory, and this saw them move into the last 32, together with the big boys, with the Third Round due to be played last month.
Outside of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia, Spain's "big boys" don't come much bigger than Villareal, yet strange things were about to happen in the run up to Christmas. Having drawn 1:1 at home, Mirandés were to upset their illustrious opponents by superbly winning 2:0 away four days before Yuletide, thanks to a double-strike from Pablo Infante (known simply as Pablo), making it a very happy Christmas in one corner of Burgos province.
The New Year was to get off to a flying start, too, with Mirandés winning 2:0 at home to another La Liga side, Racing Santander, in the Fourth Round on 3 January, and finishing the job off a week later with a very respectable 1:1 draw.
And then along came Español in the quarter-finals, and the first-leg took place at Español's Cornellà-El Prat stadium seven days after the fourth-round triumph over Racing. Mirandés more than held their own for most of the game, and indeed raced into a two-goal lead with just minutes to go after Alain Arroyo had ensured a 1:0 half-time advantage for the visitors, which was doubled with 12 minutes to go by that man Pablo. A shock result was averted this time round, however, thanks to 3-goal spurt from Español in the last 5 minutes of normal time when Mirandés' defence simply seemed to evaporate in the cool air of a Barcelona winter's evening. Spanish newspaper El Mundo's headline the following day said it all: "85 minutes of glory, five of disaster."
So, in Tuesday evening last, it was all to play for at Mirandés' tiny, compact yet athmospheric Estadio Anduva, which was filled, sardine tin-like, to its 6000 capacity. After a scoreless first-half, Español scored with one of only two shots they had on target throughout the whole game, but Mirandés drew level on the night ten minutes later after a speculative effort from Pablo - who else? - somehow found its way past the Español goalkeeper.
The visitors were still a goal to the good over the two legs, and, as the second-half went into five minutes of injury-time, it was looking increasingly desperate for Mirandés, who needed to score just once to reach the semi-finals on away goals. However, the team with the propensity of upsetting the apple-cart in this season's Copa del Rey were to blow it into smithereens two minutes into injury-time, with defender César Caneda, completely unmarked, heading home a free-kick to send all in attendance, apart from the tiny contingent of Español supporters, into an ecstatic frenzy.
The final-whistle ushered in scenes of unbridled joy and a scenario which those who founded the club back in May 1927 would most probably have never thought possible - Club Deportes Mirandés were through to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.
The Spanish press were full of praise for Mirandés' efforts on Wednesday morning. The national daily newspaper Marca said that the team had shown "unwavering faith."
"Mirandés always believed in their chances. That faith and the warmth from the stands were decisive..They who took risks won."
Local newspaper La Voz del Ebro said that the team "has once again demonstrated that it knows no boundaries or barriers..It was hoped that the Segunda B team had the strength, faith and quality to make a new gesture. But they did, and with goals from Pablo [Infante] and [César] Caneda, the team are now in the semi-finals."
The headline in El Mundo, meanwhile, was "Mirandés of the miracles", and their article began with the following (and who could disagree?):
"Football is great. Only in this sport can the little eat the big as Mirandés Español. Rockets sounding in the night over a city depressed, like many, by the economic crisis, but one that has been made happy."
Athletic Bilbao head off to Miranda de Ebro this coming Tuesday for the first-leg of their semi-final, which is, in essence, virtually a local derby, as Bilbao and Miranda de Ebro are only 50 or so miles apart. The second-leg will take place at Athletic's San Mamés stadium, the famed "Catedral." It should be a memorable night, whatever happens. Valencia host Barça at the Mestalla on 1/2/12, with the return taking place at the Camp Nou a week later.
In time, only the team which wins this season's Copa del Rey will be remembered outside Spain, but it makes a nice change to be able to report on a story which doesn't concern the top two or three in Spanish football, and it is refreshing to see a team from the third tier of a leading footballing nation casting the form-book asunder, especially in this day and age when the smaller clubs (and, thus, the lower divisions) being set adrift by those at the top.
Who said giant-killing only happens in the FA Cup? Coverage of the second-leg (in Spanish), culled from YouTube but shown originally live on the Cuatro television station, can be viewed via the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6KGS6AsGFE
Even if Mirandés do not make it past Athletic and absurdly, improbably, wonderfully, reach the final of the Copa del Rey, they are more than well-placed to reach the Segunda División "proper" for the first time in the club's history. That is, perhaps, a more realistic goal, and one which should be no less lauded if attained. Time will, as always, tell. Good luck to them.
Hail the conquering heroes, all..:
CLUB DEPORTIVO MIRANDÉS FIRST-TEAM SQUAD
GOALKEEPERS: 1 ADRIÁN MURCIA SÁNCHEZ, 13 NAUZET PÉREZ GONZÁLEZ
DEFENDERS: 2 Iñaki GARMENDIA LARREA, 3 ERNESTO AMANTEGUI PHUMIPHA, 4 César Fernandez DE LAS HERAS CANEDA, 6 RAÚL GARCÍA FERNANDÉZ, 19 Mikel IRIBAS ALIENDE, 21 Álvaro CORRAL ECHAZARRETA, 22 AITOR BLANCO ALDEANO
MIDFIELDERS: 5 Ignacio "NACHO" GARRO GÓMEZ, 7 Antxón MUNETA BELDARRAIN, 8 Roberto IVÁN AGUSTÍN SUÁREZ, 12 JOSÉ ANGÉL JURADO DE LA TORRE, 15 Mikel MARTINS DAS NEVES, 17 Ramón BORRELL IGLESIAS
FORWARDS: 9 Alain ARROYO MARTINEZ DE LA CUADRA,10 Ander LAMBARRI CAMINO, 11 Haritz MÚJIKA LÓPEZ, 14 PABLO INFANTE MUÑOZ, 20 Asier BARAHONA BREGÓN
MANAGEMENT STAFF
MANAGER: Carlos POUSO
ASSISTANT MANAGER: Lluis CODINA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Information contained in this article was obtained from the newspapers mentioned in same, a little taken from Wikipedia and the above link from YouTube. Information, including details of the first-team squad, was also taken from the CD Mirandés website: http://www.cdmirandes.com/index.shtml
(Apologies, too, for the rather poor standard of translation from the original Spanish-language text; together with an online translator, your correspondent's poor standard of Spanish undid all the hard work of the original scribes..)
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