Athletic Club’s victory in the Supercopa semifinal was a testament to the work of one man – Nico Iniesta. The club’s veteran midfielder led by example against Barcelona, scoring two goals and assisting twice more as he helped his side defeat Luis Enrique’s team 3-2 on aggregate.
The Athletic Club’s Supercopa semifinal win gives the team a chance to celebrate with Nico and Inaki Williams. The two players have been incredible for Athletic Club this season. They are both young, talented, and exciting to watch.
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Sid Lowe is a writer from Spain.
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They had nothing at the time, and some of the others who headed off from Ghana with them did not make it. Detained, the Williams family averted deportation by claiming they had fled the Liberian civil war, and with the help of the organization Caritas, they found themselves in Bilbao, Basque Country. Maria was pregnant with Inaki at the time, and he was born there. He refers to it as “destiny.” Athletic, of course, is a Basque-only club; if he had been born elsewhere, he would not have been permitted to play for them, and none of this would have occurred. Inaki, a local priest, provided them with clothing and encouragement. He also provided a name to Maria’s firstborn son.
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In the neighboring Navarra province of Pamplona, the family had been allocated subsidized housing. “There were many immigrants of various races. It was a poor, industrious neighborhood where residents strived to make ends meet in whatever way they could “Inaki remembered something. They didn’t have much to begin with. Felix took every job he could get his hands on. He worked as a shepherd for a time before moving to London to look for employment as a security guard, janitor, or luggage handler. He worked a variety of jobs, including guarding the Stamford Bridge gates and shredding tickets for Chelsea games.
“I was 11 or 12, I’m not sure, when Dad left, and conditions in Spain were horrible. My father lost his job, and my mother was without employment for a while. My younger brother was tiny: he was two and a half years old at the time “Inaki remembered anything. Felix had been gone for ten years, and the family was lucky if they saw him once a year. Maria worked as many hours as she could, juggling two or three jobs at a time. For Nico, Inaki was more than a brother: he was his caregiver, his protector, his role model, and his father. He would wake him up, dress him, drive him to school, bring him home, and feed him.
