Atletico Madrid’s Kieran Trippier will not be the only player on the pitch with English blood on Saturday when the irrepressible Osasuna come to town - the visiting team's striker Brandon Thomas has a Chelsea-supporting English dad.
The 24-year-old forward is hoping to make the visitors XI – it’s not easy these days because his side are flying high in their first season back in La Liga. If they win on Saturday they will go above Diego Simeone’s side in the table.
Brandon starred back at the end of August when Osasuna took the lead against Barcelona who eventually came back to draw 2-2.
Starting his first game of the season, he tormented the Barcelona defence that day, setting up Ruben Torres who volleyed past Marc Andre ter Stegen to score the first goal.
‘I didn’t get nervous,’ he says of what was the biggest game of his career so far. ‘I didn’t have nightmares about [Gerard] Piqué or anything … after the way we played, maybe they had nightmares about us. That’s the idea get them to dream of us, not the other way around!’
It was an early sign that Osasuna were not going to be intimidated by any of their top-flight opponents after winning the second division last season.
‘I asked Griezmann for his shirt. I played in France and he’s a player I like. It’s something to keep for life,’ adds Brandon who almost played in England when Everton invited him for a trial but he had already signed for his local team Mallorca.
He started at Mallorca aged 10 and eventually made it to the first team. In 2017 he almost joined Barcelona B but eventually opted for Stade Rennes in Ligue 1. He’s now found a home from home at Osasuna where the plan week-in week-out is to get under the skin of as many as the big teams as possible.
‘My job is to make them uncomfortable, that was the aim,’ he says. ‘My dad was a Chelsea fanatic. Because of him my team in England was always Chelsea. His favourite player was Michael Ballack.’
After playing against Barcelona Brandon also faced Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. Atletico would make for a nice hat-trick of the three top teams in Spain. ‘When you’re a kid you watch games on the telly and the ones that most capture your attention are Barcelona, Madrid, Atletico – those are the teams that aspire to win the Champions League.
‘And by the way it's not the same watching them on the telly as having them up against you. I watched Madrid against PSG before they played us and thought: “This Militao…”. I didn’t think he was so good. And then when you play against him. I think I’m quick but I’m going went flat out on a sprint he’s alongside me as if he was walking. You bump into him and he’s so strong.’
Real Madrid beat Osasuna 2-0 at the Bernabeu in September. For once it was a game where Osasuna fell behind and could not come back. No team in Europe’s big leagues has salvaged more points from losing situations this season.
That never-say-die spirit has seen them win 14 points after falling behind. No one embodies it more than Argentinian forward Chimy Avila who arrived to Spain at the start of last season and so impressed at Huesca that when they were relegated he was snapped up but newly promoted Osasuna.
The club snapped him up by telling him that he was ‘born to play for Osasuna’. They even sent him a video that basically promoted the club’s supporters and the noise they make in the 17,000 capacity close-to-the-pitch stadium El Sadar.
‘When the Sporting Director, Braulio [Vázquez] sent me the video of them celebrating promotion, it was emotional seeing the fans. That really got to me. That’s why I took the decision to come and I’m happy I did,’ said the 24-year-old striker who became so disillusioned with football back in Argentina that he briefly gave it up and went back to bricklaying. ‘Their style is my style. I run, crash into people, never give up.’
Only recently did Osasuna finally lose at home after a club record 31 matches without defeat.
On Saturday they are back on the road and Brandon will hope to be part of a victory over Atletico. If Brandon does well he doesn’t rule out another adventure abroad this time at an English club.
‘My mum is from Granada and my dad is from London,’ he says. ‘My mum’s family, my grandparents, emigrated, went to Mallorca to live and to work. My dad with his parents went to Mallorca to set up an English pub.’
‘I’m a big fan of the Premier Legaue, I watch a lot of the games. ‘I’d love to go to England one day or to play some day back at Mallorca but I’m happy at Osasuna because of the support they have given me.’
He’s delighted to be putting fear into the eyes of some of the best defenders in Spain.
‘Against Barcelona, who are an incredible team, we put them under pressure, you could see that they were thinking: wow, this lot are deranged. That’s your job on the pitch. And you see that it brings its rewards.’
Whatever happens on Saturday, it looks like they will have too much for many teams in the league this season; certainly enough to stay up and begin next season – Osasuna’s centenary – in the top flight.
‘We can’t relax,’ says Brandon. ‘It’s not how you start; it’s how it ends. We have to be consistent, brave and intense. We have to be Osasuna, true to our identity.’