Unai Simón's derby heroics show why Athletic trust him with everything
Four saves in a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad capped a week in which the goalkeeper was named the world's best, and the sequence reveals exactly what Athletic rely on him for.
Unai Simón's week ended the way it had begun: with people on their feet applauding him. Four days after collecting the Lev Yashin trophy as the world's best goalkeeper at the Ballon d'Or ceremony in London, he made four saves to help Athletic Club beat Real Sociedad 2-1 in the 197th Basque derby at San Mamés, according to the Guardian's Sid Lowe.
Goals from Iñaki Williams and Álex Berenguer either side of a Luka Sucic equaliser settled the contest, but it was Simón's handling of two separate spells of pressure that defined it. The win ended Real Sociedad's run of four consecutive derby victories.
A six-minute spell that showed every tool he has
The clearest window into Simón's range came in the first half, in the minutes immediately after Sucic's equaliser. He denied Ander Barrenetxea on 33 minutes, Sucic again a minute later, and then Mikel Oyarzabal on 38 — three stops inside six minutes against a side pushing hard off the back of levelling the score, the kind of rapid-fire transition moment that punishes any lapse in concentration.
Two minutes after the Oyarzabal save, Simón came off his line, dropped a shoulder and dribbled past the same forward outside his box. It is a different skill entirely from shot-stopping: a goalkeeper acting as an auxiliary outfield player, accepting the risk of being caught in possession to relieve pressure rather than simply clearing the danger. Taken together, the sequence showed reflex saves and composed risk-taking within the space of ten minutes.
The save that mattered more than the scoreline
His best moment came much later. With Athletic 2-1 up in the 72nd minute, Simón got across to deny Carlos Soler what looked a certain equaliser, a stop Lowe described as defying belief. San Mamés, all 50,092 inside it, stood and applauded for over a minute — mid-match, with the game still live and a corner still to be defended.
That detail matters tactically as much as emotionally. Athletic still had 25 minutes to see out a one-goal lead against a Real Sociedad side that had not stopped pushing, and the save was followed immediately by a corner that needed defending. Closing out a narrow derby lead is as much about game management and set-piece discipline in the minutes after a big save as it is about the save itself; a let-off at the resulting corner would have erased the moment entirely.
Athletic's coach, Edin Terzic, framed the trophy and the performance as confirmation of something already understood inside the club. "We already knew. If anyone [else] had any questions about the trophy, those can be put aside now," he said, as quoted by the Guardian.
The path that nearly never happened
Simón joined Athletic at 14 and is now in his ninth season with the first team, having played almost 300 games for the club. That career was not guaranteed: in 2018, aged 21 and fourth choice, he was on loan at Elche when Chelsea signed Kepa Arrizabalaga, Iago Herrerín was injured, and contract talks with Álex Remiro collapsed. Athletic recalled him from Elche, and he made his debut within three days of returning, having not played a single competitive match on loan.
"Sometimes you need some luck; that was mine," Simón said, reflecting on that chain of events, per the Guardian.
His Ballon d'Or speech on Monday, delivered without notes in just over two minutes, thanked his childhood friends, his partner, his parents and the Athletic goalkeeping lineage stretching back to José Ángel Iribar, whose statue stands outside San Mamés. Athletic wear black in Iribar's honour, which is why Simón was dressed in black for the ovations that followed him through the week.
The derby win leaves Athletic having stopped Real Sociedad's recent dominance in the fixture at four straight wins, with Simón's saves the difference between a one-goal win and a share of the points. For a goalkeeper who had just been told he was the best in the world, it was as direct a piece of evidence as any trophy ceremony could offer.