Athletic Bilbao Exclusive: Take a look behind the scenes at LaLiga's most unique club

Time has still failed to heal the wounds of Athletic Club Bilbao’s most recent low ebb, writes Richard Buxton.

Dressed in the colours of the Ikurrina, the Basque Country’s flag, players of all ages shed tears after slumping in a comprehensive Europa League final defeat to Atletico Madrid.

For some, the heartache was too much; Iker Muniain, the club’s youngest-ever debutant, goal scorer and greatest symbol of that promising team, was visibly distraught after Radamel Falcao had inflicted a third, crushing blow at Bucharest’s National Arena.

Kicking off their latest round of their continental campaign with a Group J opener against Hertha Berlin this evening, ‘Los Leones’ remain focused on mending the heartache suffered at the hands of Diego Simeone’s side in the Romanian capital in 2012.

READ MORE: What we learned from the Champions League

READ MORE: Man City fire four past Feyenoord

READ MORE: Kane at the double to sink Dortmund

“That game is, for us, maybe the worst moment of the last years,” defender Mikel San Jose told Yahoo Sport UK.

“It was an incredible option to win a Europa title for the club in the first time in our history

“We had an incredible year with Marcelo (Bielsa) and finally in the last game we threw everything into the rubbish.

“I don’t think that we were very young [as a team] because we showed during the year we had fantastic games; we won in Old Trafford, against Schalke.

“We won (against Atletico) in La Liga that year but in January they changed the coach. Simeone takes [over] Atletico and after that it was a very difficult team.

“In the final, with Falcao, they started winning in five or six minutes and it was an incredible kicker.

“But after that, I think that the club, the players – all of us – have learned about the final and we are doing everything to go back to try and win that title that all the people at the club deserve.”

Athletic’s hurt was felt greater than most vanquished sides due to their unique sense of identity; one firmly out of step with the demands of an increasingly money-driven game.

As they prepare to celebrate both their 120th anniversary and an unbroken 90-year run in La Liga which is only matched by the powerhouses of Real Madrid and Barcelona, the merits of their strictly home-grown philosophy remains as stronger than ever.

For over a century, the club has continued to live by its mantra, ‘Con cantera y aficion, no hace falta importacion’ (‘with home-grown talent and support, there is no need to import’), tapping into the strong sense of nationalism which defines this region on Spain’s northern point. All players that graduate to the first team are, traditionally, born in the Basque Country.

Only four teams across Europe’s top five leagues have been able to better Athletic’s track record as a finishing school for promising talents. Locally, that output is only matched – for very different reasons – by the factories on an industrial estate a short walk from their Lezama training base.

READ MORE: Liverpool frustrated by Sevilla

READ MORE: Five things we learned from Tottenham’s win

READ MORE: How long Pogba is set to be ruled out

Their ‘cantera’ policy is well represented outside of La Liga with Javi Martinez now an established figure at Bayern Munich while new Tottenham striker Fernando Llorente lifted major honours at Juventus and Sevilla before moving to the Premier League. Closer to home, all bar nine of the club’s current 31-man senior squad have roots in Lezama. Others, like Aritz Aduriz and Oscar de Marcos, remain true to the Basque-only ideology having gained their respective footballing educations in the area.

“Our mentality, our philosophy [and] the values that are inside the club is a very important thing,” explains Athletic’s sporting director Jose Maria Amorrortu.

“We don’t compare with other clubs because of the money that Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid [have] and in England, France, Germany and Italy.

“We know that it’s very difficult for Athletic to have a good competition with [those teams] but we know that our policy, our philosophy, our mentality, our trust with the boys is our best quality. We have all the force to maintain this idea.”

In the transfer market, they continue to adopt a similarly organic approach.

Ander Herrera enjoyed a three-year spell with his home town club before eventually joining Manchester United. Next summer, Eibar forward Ander Capa will follow in those footsteps by finalising a return to the place where he spent several of his formative years.

“We know that we can’t buy players from anywhere,” acknowledges San Jose.

“We know that Lezama, our cantera, is making great players because in the last years we have Kepa [Arrizabalaga], [Inaki] Williams, Aster Cordoba, Munain, Yeray [Alvarez].

“For us I think that it is very difficult to get better players outside of Lezama than Lezama makes.

“We know that the football atmosphere is crazy about the new change but we know that we have that we will have a new centre forward for next season.

“I think that with the people that are here, with Capa, he will come on next year and the Lezama players that will make [the team better].”

Athletic’s stance on locality has still fallen afoul of factors synonymous with the modern game, provoking a strong debate about the future of its traditional catchment area.

Enric Saborit, the club’s current left-back, transferred to Lezama in 2008 from his native Barcelona, where he had represented Espanyol at youth level, owing to his mother living in Vitoria-Gasteiz, a town just under 40 miles south of Bilbao. The issue was reignited again just this summer when promising midfielder Youssouf Diarra was drafted into Athletic’s feeder club Basconia despite being Mali-born and spending his formative years, like Saborit, in Catalonia.

“The city is changing a lot because now in Athletic, nine out of ten of the players’ parents were born here in the Basque Country,” admits Amorrortu, who previously served Athletic as a forward and caretaker manager.

READ MORE: Dele Alli ‘could break Neymar’s transfer record next year’

READ MORE: ‘Fatboy’ Tevez left out despite costing £615,000 a week

READ MORE: Mourinho urges patience from recovering Zlatan

“[Others] have families that came here from different counties. The population is growing a lot, not only in Europe but in Spain also.

“We can see players who aren’t born here in the Bilbao area but the evolution of the ethic in the team is very clear.”

Ironically the relaxing of the strictly Basque policy has also produced one of the current jewels in Athletic’s crown. Aymeric Laporte’s only credentials for joining the club emanated from his great-grandparents but has become one of Lezama’s leading poster boys.

The France international refused to join Pep Guardiola’s revolution at Manchester City, despite their plans to activate his £50 million release clause during a lengthy injury lay-off, in favour of signing a new four-year deal at the Estadio San Mames.

San Jose, who spent three years with Liverpool prior to rejoining Athletic in 2010, believes his teammate’s decision was a victory for swathes of clubs that have seen their latest talents picked off by the current European elite at the first signs of promise.

He said: “It was really important when a player like him prefers to stay here and not go after the money or another option like go to England.

“I respect all the decisions but for me, for the club, for young people, it’s important to see a great player saying ‘no’ to one of the biggest clubs in the world, to a lot of money, to make a dream here in our club.

“For me it’s easy to say – I don’t have any intention to go out of this club – but I can’t take the decision of others [and] it was a big decision from Aymeric.”

External influences have not been totally disregarded at a club where links with its past are more pronounced than the tokenism often associated with teams across the continent.

Seven English managers, including the late Howard Kendall, account for 19 of their 107 years in competitive existence while illustrious names such as Marcelo Bielsa, Jupp Heynckes, Luis Fernandez sit alongside home-grown icons like Javier Clemente and Txetxu Rojo.

Not all tenures have been harmonious, particularly in the cases of Fernandez and Bielsa, but the undue influence of coaches that exists at many clubs in world football remains an anomaly for Athletic, particularly with the club’s ex-striker Cuco Ziganda now at the helm.

“When these coaches came here, they knew that the philosophy of Athletic can’t change,” Amorrortu told Yahoo Sport UK in his office at Lezama’s headquarters.

“They know that Athletic’s different; different for the philosophy and they way it understands football. They understood the philosophy and joined with us.

“This kind of influence is very positive for Athletic.

“To maintain our philosophy in the Basque players and the influence of these high-quality coaches that came here to reinforce with the other competitive mentality is a good mix.”

In the past eight seasons, Athletic have reached six finals, with European football also gracing San Mames in all bar three of them. Domestically, however, they still face a challenge in unseating the only two sides ahead of them as Spain’s most successful clubs.

Barcelona, who poached manager Ernesto Valverde this summer, and Real Madrid have continued to take turns in their ownership of La Liga, their neighbours to the north have failed to mount a serious title challenge since recording back-to-back crowns in 1983/84.

READ MORE: Bottas commits to Mercedes for 2018

READ MORE: Marcelo signs five-year Real Madrid deal

READ MORE: Wenger won’t look for excuses ahead of Chelsea match

The re-emergence of Atletico Madrid and, to a lesser extent, Sevilla and Valencia in recent years has widened the disparity between their bespoke philosophy and football’s current fiscal climate. But the club that has continued to defy convention retains its inherent belief that a brighter tomorrow may again come around.

“We know that it’s difficult to be in a top positions because year after year, the top teams receive more money because of the television [rights],” concedes San Jose.

“It’s very difficult to fight with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico – even too with Sevilla.

“We are a little town to play and we are doing great things.

“Four years ago, we were fourth in La Liga. Two seasons before, we got fifth. Now we are in the Europa League [again].

“I think with our options, we are fighting really well and the idea is to fight better.

“We know that we can do it, we will try to do it, but we know that it’s difficult because the teams every year buys more players and they complete a bigger squad and it’s difficult to fight with them. But we will try.”