Andoni Iraola on the 'privilege' of facing Inigo Perez and a personal link to Villarreal
Andoni Iraola has described the opportunity to come up against long-time friend and Villarreal counterpart Inigo Perez as a ‘privilege’.
The pair will be in opposing dugouts for Tuesday night’s Champions League encounter at Anfield as Liverpool look to build on two wins from two so far in the league phase of the tournament.
Trying to thwart the Reds’ attempts will be Perez, someone Iraola has known since the early days of his playing career at Athletic Club in Bilbao and has since formed a close friendship with.
Indeed, the Liverpool boss appointed the 38-year-old as his assistant while in charge of Rayo Vallecano in 2022 and, a year later, attempted to bring him to AFC Bournemouth but was denied by an unsuccessful work permit application.
“For me it’s a special game because Inigo is my friend,” Iraola explained during his pre-match press conference on Monday afternoon.
“We’ve known each other since the academy years at Athletic Club, we played with each other in the first team, and as soon as he retired I was quick enough to grab him to help me as an assistant.
“We’ve been through a lot of things together, so it is also a privilege for me to face him in a Champions League game.
“He knows me very well, he knows everything, but also it is a team I follow, I know the players and it is going to be little bit strange, yes, but in a good way.”
Read on for the rest of what Iraola had to say about facing Perez, his attempts to appoint him as his assistant at Bournemouth and the unique personal link he has with Villarreal…
On whether he has spoken to Perez in the build-up to tomorrow’s game…
It is the thing that happens, it is not good for relationships when these things happen. I talk to him a lot, but when you know you are going to face each other you stop talking because you kind of leave some distance. So, lately, it’s probably a moment when we’ve talked less. We normally call time to time to talk about La Liga, the Premier League, about football, about other stuff, our families, but now when the game gets closer we haven’t been in touch.
On trying to bring Perez to Bournemouth as his assistant in 2023 and whether him being unable to take the role helped his career in other ways…
I think so. We tried to take him to England, he was here but he couldn’t work because he didn’t receive the work permit. We tried to do everything to convince, I think there is a panel who decides if you are good enough, but they considered he was not good enough to be an assistant coach. I complained in that moment because I was coming with just two guys - Pablo [de la Torre] and Inigo - but it has worked very well for him also because he could take Rayo Vallecano, he’s done very well and now he is coaching in the Champions League with Villarreal and I am so, so happy for him.
On how he managed the situation at the time…
It was very difficult because everything was very provisional. He wanted to work here for us at Bournemouth, but if you don’t have the work permit you cannot do anything. You cannot put the kids in a school. There was a moment when we realised it was not going to be possible. We were waiting because there is a process that takes some time when a panel analyses if you are good enough, or you are worth a visa, but once they told us it looked very difficult, he was denied.
Luckily for all, because it was an uncomfortable situation, he could go and manage Rayo Vallecano and also, for me, I think it was a place where I could work with Tommy [Elphick] and Shaun [Cooper] and they probably assumed more responsibility. I honestly had the chance to choose someone else coming from Spain to be my assistant, but I considered Tommy and Shaun - they were doing a great job and I finished really happy with them.
On scoring the final goal of his career on his farewell home game with Athletic Club in May 2015…
Lovely goal, hey? A lovely goal! Last game in San Mames for me, very special. I think I had one of the best last days you can ask for. We qualified for Europe in that game. I think it was also the game before the Copa del Rey final, which was my last match. I scored, we won 4-0 and everyone was happy, but it has been a long time, a lot of years ago. I remember very well that day, yes.
