Our Kit of the Week feature returns with a special salute SD Eibar, the tiny Basque side who humbled the mighty Real Madrid on Saturday afternoon.
We love an underdog story at Sartorial.Scoccer, so when we saw that Eibar had beaten Real Madrid for the first time in their history, we had to honour their unlikely triumph.
The wonderfully nicknamed Armagiñak (or “Gunsmiths” to you and I) shot-down 13 time European champions Real with a 3-0 victory, thanks to goals from Argentine midfielder Gonzalo Escalante, Sergi Enrich and former Middlesborough striker Kike.
The result for José Luis Mendilibar’s men was even more impressive when the vast gaps in finances between the two clubs is considered, with Saturday’s historic win coming at Eibar’s Ipurua stadium which holds just 7,083 souls on match-days.
Eibar’s scarlet and blue shirts have been familiar to La Liga’s international following for the past 5 seasons after the club were promoted to Spain’s top division in 2013/14, where they have held their own ever since.
Whilst we are not necessarily holding Puma’s Eibar kits up as particularly notable examples of football fashion, the message on the back of those 3 wide-stripes deserves to be championed further.
The Azulgranas’ shirts carried a signal of solidarity for those who’s lives have been impacted by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia which killed more than 2000 people.
The big-hearted Basque club’s efforts do not end there, with supporters being encouraged to exchange food and toys for tickets to upcoming fixtures as Eibar look to support local food-banks and Red Cross charities.
Football is of course worth much more to us than etchings on trophies, and clubs like Eibar who continue to punch above their perceived weight embody so much of what we love about the game at Sartorial Soccer.
For their stunning performance and message of support on the back of their shirts, our Kit of the Week gong goes to SD Eibar and we join their fans in toasting their famous victory over Real Madrid!
All images courtesy of www.sdeibar.com.
Sartorial Soccer 