I coached Andoni Iraola and Mikel Arteta - only one was destined to be a manager

Iraola and Arteta, who played together in a Basque youth team, face off as Liverpool and Arsenal managers on Sunday; their old coach reveals only Arteta showed early coaching ambitions.

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will meet in opposite dugouts at Anfield on Sunday, reuniting two former youth team-mates from Basque club Antiguoko. Roberto Montiel, who coached both players alongside Xabi Alonso, has revealed starkly different paths to management for the pair.

Arteta's coaching potential was evident from childhood. Montiel recalled how the young Arteta would watch training sessions and bombard him with tactical suggestions, even as a boy. "Right away, we knew he could make it at a professional level," Montiel said. "He's the best player I have ever seen at Antiguoko, better even than Alonso, and I think he had the idea of being a coach a long time before he hung up his boots."

Iraola's journey surprised Montiel. A shy, talented youngster, Iraola showed no obvious coaching ambitions as a player. Only after retiring did he approach Montiel asking to start coaching at Antiguoko. "When he quit football, I thought he was going to retire, but when he called me and told me that he wanted to start coaching, I saw that he might have the makings of a coach," Montiel explained. Iraola went on to earn his coaching licence in Madrid, eventually managing AEK Larnaca, Miranes, and Rayo Vallecano before joining Bournemouth in 2023.