It’s been 40 years since Inaki and Nico Williams played for the same club.

Jonas Ramalho, son of an Angolan father and a Basque mother, was the first player of African descent to play for the club in 2011. But Inaki, 29, is the first black player to make a name for himself at San Mames. He has played more than 300 times in La Liga, including an amazing 251 straight games.

Inaki says that Nico, who is eight years younger than him, is now “making waves in football” as well. The little boy’s nerves are now used to fulfill his childhood dream of playing on the biggest stage with his big brother, who is also his mentor and guardian.

 

 

“Seeing how much he has grown and how much better he is at football makes me really proud as an older brother.” “He has no limits,” Inaki tells BBC Sport. “I’m here to help him, to teach him and give him everything he needs.”

The trip started a long time ago and goes a long way from Bilbao. Inaki was already in the 𝖘𝖘mb when their mother, Maria, and father, Felix, left Ghana to find a better life.

They walked barefoot across part of the Sahara. When Inaki was 20, he found out the whole story of them. It was clear to him that his dad had issues with the bottoms of his feet, but he didn’t know that h𝖘t sand was the cause.

Felix and Maria jumped a border fence to get to the Spanish island of Melilla in north Africa, but the civil guard caught them.

A lawyer told them to lie and say they were from 𝖘ar-torn Liberia so they could get political refuge.

He got Catholic priest Inaki Mardones to help them in Bilbao. He met the couple at the Abando train station when Maria was seven months pregnant, helped them find an apartment, and drove them to the hospital where Inaki was born.

It was Mardones who baptized the future star and gave him his first football shirt. He was also his uncle.

He is where Inaki’s name comes from.