9 Questions with Iñaki María Avial

The pursuit of wisdom in any walk of life quickly reveals that what you think you know is not nearly enough to get you to where you want to go. As I'm starting out in my football journey I challenged myself to reach out to those already working in various roles in football to answer a short list of questions. My goal wasn't to get answers but relevant perspectives on the game within the game.

Here is Iñaki María Avial:

What is your first memory of football?

The first clear one was the final of the 2005 Champions League, Liverpool's legendary comeback against AC Milan. My father went to water the plants at the break because he thought that the final was already over and soccer ended up showing me that it is much more than 22 men or women kicking a ball.

What attracted you to media? 

Curiously, I had never considered it. I think especially his ability to connect people who share an interest in an issue. And in the soccer field, although they do not take too much advantage, they should also be an intermediary so that the soccer players could talk about the concerns of the fans and vice versa.

What is the biggest misconception/cliche regarding journalism in football you’ve found?

This is very clear to me. The need of most of the media to be the first to tell something. Many times it does not matter to tell the background or even the truth, what matters to many journalists is to hang the exclusive medal, without contrasting enough. And in the background, something that seems very serious to me is also the fact that the economic survival of the media depends on visits, because in the end this encourages clickbait.

If you could start over what skill would you build on first?

 Professionally, rather than build something, what I would do would be to build it sooner. In this profession I do not think that you need to assimilate certain concepts before an age, it is never too late to learn and, in fact, something very important is be in constant learning. But I do consider that my late jump to social networks made me discover the "new journalism" after many colleagues and that slowed me down, it took longer than it should to burn stages.

How do you see data/analytics growing in the La Liga going forward?

The data is called to be a very useful tool for studying certain behaviors in football, they are a great support for the analyst and should continue to be so. But as with technology, it should not replace human knowledge. 

And not because it takes away the work, but because the data without an understanding of the game and its subsequent interpretation, are nothing more than empty numbers. Getafe is a team that statistics do not do justice to at all, through the data it is impossible to detect how well worked that team is.

How do you see Spanish football growing in general over the next decade? Why?

It is difficult to predict. The great years of Spanish football created a diffuse context, we lost the north and we got used to the fact that winning was normal. Currently there is still a problem that is slowly disappearing. 

It is inevitable to refer to the figure of Pep, Luis Aragonés or Del Bosque to understand the golden generation of Spanish football. They did him a lot of good. But they also created a trend in which any team that did not play following those ideals was frowned upon. Mourinho's Real Madrid was exceptional, for me it is the best Madrid of the 21st century, but he had the defensive conception when in fact he set a goal record. This team was not defensive, it was pragmatic. 

And little by little, thanks to coaches like Simeone or Bordalás, Spain understands the need to adapt to the new reality, which is to optimize your resources to compete better. Trying to play prettier can make you play worse. If many teams and the national team realize this, national football will improve.

What three (3) football icons would you want to have a meal with? Why?

Not to mention topics, I would say that with Marten de Roon for his sense of humor and to chat about Atalanta and the Holland of the present / future, with Juanma Lillo for the variety that his career has had and for being the 2nd of two technicians to the ones I admire enormously like Guardiola and Sampaoli, and lastly, Chris Wilder to tell me how he founded the peculiar system of Sheffield United.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into this space?

This profession is very beautiful but also very sacrificed. Recording radio shows in which you feel you have mastered the topics covered is a great feeling. For me that is not work, it is pleasure. The most complicated part is doing all the documentation work. 

My advice is to only board those who have the willpower and are able to give up a lot of leisure time to dedicate to work. Behind the cameras or the microphones there is a huge job that is not seen, and that is necessary because, in a job market where there is so much more journalistic supply than media demand, you need to work very hard to dedicate yourself professionally to this. It is necessary to live many years where your effort seems to have no reward, so that it ends up having it. 

And the most important thing is that your trusted people support you and understand that on a Saturday afternoon you will have to work more than half the hours a day has. Everything comes, but you have to be constant and have patience, the quality will end up imposing. And finally, I would say that nowadays the focus is more important than the topic, it is essential to know how to tell something and use the graphic tools as well as possible to be self-sufficient.

What is your favorite quote or saying?

As a journalist specialized in international soccer, I am left with "the one who covers a lot, little pressures". You have to know how to detect where and when you should be in each place, doing according to what things.