From Eliminated in AFCON to Eliminating Barcelona
Iñaki Williams couldn't lead Ghana to the AFCON quarterfinals, but he managed to lead Athletic Club to the Copa del Rey semifinals. Check out the crazy story.
Iñaki Williams had a hectic 24 hours. No other player experienced such a whirlwind journey in just one day. He went from being eliminated from the AFCON with Ghana to scoring the decisive goal that helped Athletic Club, his team, eliminate Barcelona from the Copa del Rey.
It all started with the draw between Ghana and Mozambique on the last day of the group stage. With that result, the "Black Stars" had two points and had to wait for the outcome of the match between Cameroon and Gambia to see if they maintained hope of being one of the best third-placed teams in the tournament or if they were eliminated.
The match took place on Tuesday, and Cameroon's victory confirmed Ghana's elimination, triggering a race against time for Iñaki Williams to be on the field on Wednesday for the clash against Barcelona at San Mamés.
According to El País, the striker took an Air France flight from Abidjan to Paris at 7:00 AM on Wednesday. The match against Barcelona was scheduled for 9:30 PM Spanish time. There was no time to waste.
Athletic Club arranged a private flight for which they paid €6000 (6540 dollars) so that their player could fly from Paris to Bilbao, where he landed at 11:00 AM. This flight became one of the most followed in the world through the "Flightradar" website, with over 4000 people tracking it live, emphasizing the urgency of the fans to have him on the field.
Upon arriving in Bilbao, he was taken to the club's training ground to join his teammates, not without saying a few words about his condition: "(I'm) fine, prepared. Let's win." What Iñaki didn't know at that moment was that those words would be prophetic.
A goal from him in extra time was precisely the one that broke the deadlock and set Athletic on the path to victory at San Mamés and a place in the semifinals of the tournament, all amidst general euphoria. After the match, Williams expressed his happiness:
"Not even in the best dreams. Everything went perfectly. Yesterday, I imagined being able to be here after a quite tough elimination (in the Africa Cup). I want to thank Athletic for doing everything possible for me to be here and the fans for welcoming me with open arms."
