Iribar & Muniain: A picture worth a thousand matches

Iker Muniain returns to San Mamés on Friday night as the second highest appearance maker in Athletic Club history. The current captain overtook Txetxu Rojo at the Reale Arena last Saturday and now has 542 appearances to his name. Nonetheless, Iker remains some distance away from Athletic's number one, the legendary Jose Angel Iribar and his 614 matches.

No doubt, Muniain had hoped to celebrate the derby and his momentous occasion differently, but his fantastic career speaks for itself and deserves every recognition.

The captain and "El Txopo" were photographed together at Lezama before training on Thursday evening. Between them, the two players have lined up in 1,156 matches for Athletic - more than a quarter of all the offficial fixtures in our club's history.

There are two other players in the current squad on their way to golden numbers. Oscar de Marcos, on 505 appearances, is two games behind his great friend and former teammate Markel Susaeta. De Marcos could go level with Susaeta when we face FC Barcelona after the international break. And with five more, he would equal Andoni Iraola in fifth place in Athletic's appearance rankings.

Then there is Iñaki Williams, who is chasing 400 games as a Lion. At the moment he has 390. With eight more matches he will move into our top twenty. What's more, a goal against Almería on Friday would see him to do that in Club's top scorers's standings, equalling Kuko Ziganda and Venancio Pérez on 91 strikes. 

Three brilliant Athletic players who would certainly sacrifice any individual accolade for  three points against the Andalusian outfit, a victory which would see the Zurigorri take a step closer to the continental places.