The dependable of the alboka cascading done Basque villages erstwhile acted arsenic a telephone to neighbours that a festival was astir to begin. These days, with Athletic Club heading backmost to the Champions League, the thrum of the accepted horn usually precedes a carnival ambiance astatine San Mames.
As it peters retired the txalaparta begins, the clunk of sticks connected a woody plank echo astir the 53,000-capacity arena earlier the iconic nine anthem kicks in: "For each of america you are ours. Because you were calved from the people..."
"It sums up the halfway thought and doctrine of Athletic, this thought that players person a person necktie to the nine they are representing," explains Basque writer Benat Gutierrez.
"The nexus is tighter due to the fact that you mostly cognize idiosyncratic who knows idiosyncratic whose kid oregon neighbour has climbed the antithetic levels of Athletic earlier playing for the archetypal team."
Manchester United person already won successful Bilbao this season, knocking retired Athletic successful the semi-finals, and either they oregon Tottenham Hotspur volition spot the venue go a important portion of the club's past should they beryllium victorious connected Wednesday.
It is simply a genuinely unsocial and iconic stadium. One that bears an astir spiritual aura and has frankincense been nicknamed The Cathedral - fans inactive worship Saint Mammes astatine the tract of an aged shrine adjacent door, the third-century orphan who pacified the lions sent to termination him. It's wherefore Athletic are known arsenic "Los Leones", The Lions.
San Mames is simply a awesome of Basque identity, conscionable arsenic Athletic person go a Basque instauration done their doctrine of lone fielding players who are calved oregon raised successful the region. "Unique successful the world," they telephone it.
Families sojourn together, nine memberships are passed down done generations similar heirlooms. The players representing Athletic connected the tract were erstwhile those decked successful reddish and achromatic successful the stands.
"Every clip I measurement connected the transportation I consciousness similar I'm surviving the imagination of that small lad who utilized to spell to the stadium with his parents and who dreamed of 1 time being capable to play shot astatine San Mames," explains young midfielder Mikel Jauregizar. "You cognize what the nine means to everyone who's there. I consciousness a precise beardown transportation with our fans."
It is simply a stadium wherever contented prevails. From Basque rituals specified arsenic the alboka and txalaparta, to the 'Txoria Txori', erstwhile players clasp aft the crippled and sing successful unison with the fans, to different chants successful the connection astir "losing your beard".
"That's astir the doctrine of Athletic," beams Gutierrez. "If you alteration it, you whitethorn triumph much titles. But you emotion Athletic, you don't emotion the titles…"
"Fans are adjacent to the transportation and truly successful sync with the players," explains Gaizka Atxa, laminitis of a supporters' radical named aft Fred Pentland, a legendary erstwhile English manager of the club.
"The situation is usually overwhelming for rivals that travel to San Mames. It's intimidating, particularly successful La Liga. In Spain, I don't deliberation there's a akin benignant of environment."
The San Mames experience, though, begins agelong earlier kick-off. On the bar-lined 'Poza', supporters dripping successful reddish and achromatic spell done their pre-match routines, gathering for drinks and pintxos, buying their sandwiches for half-time, thing of an Athletic tradition.
"When Athletic is performing truly well, the pre-match ambiance is 2nd to none," says Atxa. "People are ever socialising, friends getting unneurotic and trying to person a bully clip and bask themselves, that acquisition of hanging retired earlier the match, that's truly what a batch of fans truly like.
"Once you get into the Athletic culture, radical truly bask the socialising earlier the lucifer and that truly gets you into a bully spirit."
Built connected the tract of the aged stadium, the caller San Mames, opened successful 2013, is some ideally located wrong walking region of the metropolis and a stone's propulsion from the River Nervion.
It's a tract packed with past and 1 wherever legends are celebrated.
A statue of erstwhile goalkeeper and skipper Jose Angel Iribar stands successful beforehand of the crushed - it was Iribar and Real Sociedad skipper Inaxio Kortabarria who carried a banned Basque emblem connected to the transportation earlier a derby successful December 1976, pursuing the decease of Spanish wide Francisco Franco.
Meanwhile, the bust of Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, amended known arsenic Pichichi, Athletic's prolific guardant successful the aboriginal 20th period who La Liga's apical goalscorer grant is named after, sits astatine the entranceway of the players' tunnel.
"With Pichichi, we are talking astir a legend, 1 of the astir iconic players for Athletic and idiosyncratic who transcends Athletic to beryllium an important portion of Spanish shot culture," says Gutierrez.
"Iribar goes adjacent beyond that. He is simply a legend, but helium is presently the embodiment of the values of Athletic. He is the astir important typical of the club.
"He is the idiosyncratic immoderate instrumentality is truthful blessed to spot around. He is ever determination to amusement Athletic is with the people, helium is idiosyncratic similar nary different successful Athletic's history."
Unlike Spurs, who volition beryllium playing determination for the archetypal time, Manchester United person their ain past astatine San Mames that goes beyond the semi-final first-leg triumph earlier this month.
Matt Busby's broadside mislaid 5-3 successful the European Cup quarter-final archetypal limb during uncommon snowfall successful Bilbao successful January 1957, but won the reverse limb 3-0 - astatine rivals City's Maine Road - to progress.
The clubs met again successful the 2012 Europa League past 16, a twelvemonth earlier the caller crushed opened, erstwhile Marcelo Bielsa's broadside bushed Sir Alex Ferguson's outfit implicit 2 legs connected their mode to the final, wherever they were beaten by Atletico Madrid.
It was the 2nd clip the Basque broadside person finished runners-up successful the competition, having mislaid implicit 2 legs connected distant goals to Juventus successful 1977.
Athletic ended the club's 40-year trophy drought with the Copa del Rey past summer, with joyous celebrations taking spot connected the Nervion, to triumph a archetypal European trophy astatine their own, iconic home.
"Even though we're a humble team, we are precise competitory and we ever privation to win," says Atxa. "We request to amusement the satellite of shot that Athletic tin basal retired with its doctrine against the best.
"Every clip we play successful San Mames, the archetypal happening I deliberation is 'let's marque it different 100 years similar this'. Every crippled is different successful which we tin vie astatine a precocious level with a unsocial philosophy.
"Really, it's a spot of a miracle."
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