Ander Herrera: Athletic Bilbao midfielder says Copa del Rey trophy would be dad’s dream

Ander Herrera has won trophies with a number of the biggest clubs on this planet, but there may be room for an accolade within the midfielder’s office that would resonate much closer to home.

For town where he was born and for his father, a long-time fan who also represented the club but never made it to the primary team, beating Mallorca in Seville would have sparked wild celebrations.

“He played over 200 games in the first league, but he couldn’t get here,” Herrera told BBC Sport. “It would be his dream because it is his club, the club he was a fan of when he was a child.”

Pedro, also a midfielder, rose through the youth ranks, but as Athletic was a force in Spanish football on the time, he was as an alternative given a break at Erandio, followed by Salamanca, Real Zaragoza and Celta Vigo.

Before Ander became interested by football, his father worked as a general manager at Zaragoza.

It was there that the younger Herrera fell in love with soccer – going to the stadium, kicking with the players after training – and made his skilled debut before joining Athletic for the primary time in 2011.

“I’m still a fan of Real Zaragoza, but I admire the way Athletic competes and the way it respects this institution,” adds Herrera.

“What I really like about this club and what I would like my club to have more of is its identity. Everyone feels part of it. Even the fans feel part of this club when they go to the stadium.

“He would really like to play in the first team. I could do it, so he’s very proud of me too and very happy if we can do something important this season.”

The 34-year-old watches Zaragoza whenever he can, as does United, a club he will “love forever”, and PSG, which allowed him to “play with some of the best players in the history of football”.

But when it comes to the club’s role in society, he says Athletic – with its Basque-only policy – is “most important”.

“You see people who have had season tickets all their lives and they don’t watch other games, they only watch Athletic, it’s something completely different,” he says.

“What I really like about our region and our people is that we love what we do and we love what we have, even though we know it’s probably not the best in the world, but we love it more than anything “.

Herrera played under Ernesto Valverde in the final season of his first spell at San Mames, qualifying for the Champions League.

Both have since moved elsewhere – Herrera to United and PSG, Valverde to Barcelona – but together again they have another chance to advance to Europe’s elite competition and finish fifth in La Liga.

“We’re doing great. For me, Ernesto is one of the best coaches in the world because he is adaptable and extremely intelligent thanks to the qualities he has in his team,” says Herrera.

“In the first period we didn’t have as much speed as we do now, so we had a more controlled team, we controlled the games more often and we kept the ball more often, we played in positions.

“Now with the players we have, he finds more space, he finds more, as I say, rock’n’roll football, an attacking team that tries to exhaust the opponent and not give them time to recover and breathe. “

So would Herrera be willing to follow him into the dugout?

“We think about it when you grow up in football,” he says. “I’m still 34 and I still have the energy to keep playing. I love football, but of course I start thinking about the next chapter.

“I will definitely continue to play football because it is my life, it is my passion, I love football, I love what I do. But you never know where.

“If you see coaches, managers, their job is very difficult and sometimes very unfair. Every week you can be fantastic, working, they prepare everything, they spend the whole week preparing the match, and after you get on the pitch, post and you don’t score, they’re out.

“That’s why I’m not convinced that I’ll become a coach one day because I think it’s a very unfair job. As we say in Spanish, I’m not closing this door, but you never know.”