Real Sociedad’s Alex Remiro: ‘I like United but it feels as if something always goes wrong’

Sometimes it’s the detail that stays with you. Alex Remiro can’t remember the brand, but he can still see the colour, the way they looked, how much he liked them. “When I was a kid, if you became a goalkeeper it was because you were an Iker Casillas fan, because you were the biggest, or because no one else wanted to do it,” he says. Or because one day in Cascante, Navarre, a friend turns up with a pair of gloves: brand new, grey and very, very cool. “I was like: ‘Hey, let me have a go.’ I went in goal and, well, I never left again.”

Now he is a European champion with Spain; a Copa del Rey winner with Real Sociedad, their first trophy in 34 years, albeit one won in an empty stadium and a year late, a sadness to the celebration they had to have without the fans and with a single family member each; and no one in La Liga has kept more clean sheets this season. And the way he tells it, that’s thanks in part to Manchester United, their opponents on Thursday, and the team who taught la Real a lesson. Literally, he says.

There have been a lot of those along the way and a lot to pass on too, Remiro eloquently discussing mental health and the project he has put together to try to guide a new generation of players and their parents. Having joined Athletic at 14, he went on loan in the second division, first at Levante, where he felt “sunk”, a “brat” sent to see a psychologist, and then at Huesca. He was 23 and less than 24 hours from his debut at Athletic, “sitting in a room like this, still sweaty, still in my gloves”, when he was told to sign a contract or forget it. He summoned the courage to stand firm and sit out an entire season before heading to rivals Real Sociedad.

There, he won the first all-Basque Copa del Rey final, the biggest game in any of their lives. Six weeks earlier in Turin, in pandemic-hit 2021, when Manchester United beat la Real 4-0, “things changed” he says, easing into a chair. It is the morning before la Real face United again, a third meeting in five years, and the morning after Arsenal put seven past PSV, two of his mates scoring, which brings a smile.

“I had the Madrid derby on the telly and the other game on the iPad, watching Meri [Mikel Merino],” Remiro says, and then he starts laughing. “Playing up front! It’s not normal. Although I reckon you’re more surprised than we are here. He’s so strong, so smart, and when you know when to move, which I think is innate, you can score goals. Meri watches a lot of football, focuses on everything and his dad was a forward. He’s sharp. Put a cross into the box, and it’s very likely he will get a head on it. As for Martin [Ødegaard], he came here, showed his level, and it was a pity when he went back to Madrid and didn’t really get the chance, because the level he is showing at Arsenal is hyper-high. He’s a total superstar.”

View image in fullscreen Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes scores the opening goal of a 4-0 rout in the 2020-21 Europa League as Alex Remiro watches on. Photograph: Alessandro Di Marco/EPA

You say that 4-0 in 2021 against United changed things? Yes, they overran us so clearly; the difference was huge. We could compete in terms of play but physically they were better than us in everything. It finished 4-0 but it could have been seven or eight. We were awful. And watching them it was like: “Bloody hell, this is …” It was: “Wow!”

Why? The difference shouldn’t have been that big. It shouldn’t. But the reality is that you encounter teams that are very strong. From that game, from that loss, we started to place more stress on the duels. Football has moved in that direction too: it’s more physical. We could feel it that day, playing. But it’s everyone: the manager, the club, everyone. There was a realisation that we had to adapt if we wanted to keep competing in Europe.

How did you apply that change? Strength work, gym, speed. It affects me too, even as a goalkeeper. I now weight much more than when we lost to United. I’m 84.5 kilos now. I would have been 81 then. And when I came to la Real 78.

Are you watching United now? Yes. For work and because I like to. I feel like the same is happening to them as happens to us, a bit. They have players with huge potential but they don’t seem to quite find the solution to be the team they once were, to be higher up. Maybe they need a run of five, six, seven games winning, but something always happens. I like the new coach, I like his ideas – I liked Erik ten Hag too – but it feels like something always goes wrong.

Who stood out for you when you were younger? When I started playing as a goalkeeper one of my idols was David de Gea. De Gea’s videos? I’ve seen all of them. Absolutely all of them. I liked his reactions, how intuitive he is. I didn’t really understand the end. The year out. He was their best player and I didn’t understand why he left … I liked watching Ronaldo too, and David Silva.

View image in fullscreen Alex Remiro (middle) is in the centre of the celebrations as Mikel Oyarzabal (left) celebrates Spain’s winner in the Euro 2024 final. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

What did you think when Silva came here? That blew my mind. What a player. Pff. Touched by a magic wand. Incredible. As good as Xavi or Iniesta, or even better. Each in their own way, with their own qualities, but he was in the top one. No doubt. A world champion, a European champion. He came here and you might think: “He’s old now.” But no: he was the one that most put his foot in in training, who most wanted to win, who was the smartest.

What differences do you see between the Premier league and La Liga? Football is more attractive there, there are more chances, games are “broken” more. Goalkeepers are not as protected – and I think that’s good.

You do?! Here, a lot of the time they give fouls that aren’t. I think referees have to let it go a bit more. I’m not saying go Ben White to Vicario, no, hahaha! But there can be more contact, more duels. But it’s a cultural thing, a context. In general, the game is stopped more here. We talk about it in the dressing room. There are referees who do our league games and then you see them in Europe and they’re letting it all go. And you think: “Bloody hell, great, but do it here too.”

In Spain, there’s more of a tendency to see a conspiracy? And the agenda is dominated by the big two. It’s always Barcelona this, Madrid that … I think those are excuses, that people don’t want to see the play. Also, I don’t want to believe that happens. [A genuine conspiracy] would be very heavy, it would take away the meaning of it all.

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On the inside, do you sometimes think: this isn’t the way it should be? The way you left Athletic can’t have been easy, for example: it was an early and very blunt view of football as a business, of the pressure applied … It’s a bit shit inside sometimes, yes. The things that happen, the exposure, the criticism. And, yes, it’s a business, but that time was also about the way it happened, the human treatment. It didn’t sit well with me. I was young and I thought: ‘I can’t accept this.’ I’m sorry, I can’t sign it. I risked a lot and I left a lot behind.

By then you had already started to see a psychologist. When I went to Levante. I played four games. And I was dreadful. I let in stupid goals. I played four games and never again. I was sunk, destroyed. I had never done mental work, and my agent said: ‘Go and see Mar [Rovira]. She’s been a pro basketball player, she has worked with people in motor racing, football.’ That first session, she said I was a niñato [a brat, a little boy, spoiled].

View image in fullscreen Real Sociedad’s players celebrate with the trophy after winning the Copa del Rey in 2021. Photograph: RFEF/AFP/Getty Images

And were you? I was. Totally. I was a brat.

Why? “It’s not my fault. It’s the coach. That guy is terrible. He’s got something against me.” Excuses, all of it. I was a niñato. But I’m from Navarra, I’m stubborn, and I knew I had to work through it. I found a way, tools. I now go into games stable, calm. In matches I talk a lot – and it’s more for me than them.

You have tried to share some of these lessons through a social project focused on the care and development of young players. Where does that idea come from? From everything I have lived through, my development in football, the things I have seen. I’ve wanted to do something ever since I arrived in San Sebastián, when I felt I had the maturity to speak to kids. Kids in football are under so much pressure. Parents have a big percentage of the blame in terms of the expectations they load on to them when what they should be doing is enjoying it.

Did you feel that pressure as a kid? My own parents only ever wanted me to be well behaved and have fun but I have seen all sorts. I went to see my cousin play in our local town and it was incredible. The things parents do: shouting at referees, teammates, opponents, their own kids. I have seen parents stand behind the goal and tell them what to do, every move: I wouldn’t ever, ever do that. Some see their kids as their way out of poverty. We’re losing sight of what this is supposed to be. It’s hard enough to make it and they certainly won’t like that. And, beyond making it or not, there’s a person. Kids take hits, failure, disappointment. Parents have to be there to support them, look after them, not oblige them. That’s why we do the talks and sessions with parents above all. We send invites to local clubs. You send the invite and every kid at the club and their parents can go. There’s a handful of parents there and more at the bar, looking at us thinking: “What the hell is he doing here?!” But that does bring them in and I try to be there. And the sessions are aimed at the parents too. The first session, we take the parents back to when they were kids: put yourself back in school, playing – any game, not just football – and now imagine I’m making demands of you, pressuring you all the time.

View image in fullscreen Alex Remiro celebrates after Luka Sucic’s goal against Midtjylland in the Europa League playoffs last month. Photograph: Ion Alcoba Beitia/Getty Images

You’re learning English. Could you have done this in English? I would probably have had to prepare it a bit, but I think so. I’m studying Euskera at the moment. But I have been doing English for five or six years: I would like to do some of the project sessions in English.

When Spain won the Euros this summer, you were the only player not to play a minute … David Raya got the chance in the third group game against Albania but you didn’t. I don’t want people to pity me. I felt great doing things that way. All 25 players there are starters for their clubs, and it’s only seven games. And in my view it was already quite something that the coach gave David [Raya] the chance to play. I understood him, his explanation. He wanted to respect the competition, what it means to play for Spain at a Euros. If David was going to play that game, he deserved to play the 95 minutes.

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