In 2018, AEK Larnaca’s director of football Ander Murillo was in the process of building a supporting staff around his new, first-time head coach
The club needed a fitness and conditioning coach, so he phoned well-respected physiotherapist and a world-renowned expert in injury prevention and rehabilitation, Jurdan Mendiguchia, for recommendations
He was pointed in the direction of Pablo de la Torre, who had spent time working as a conditioning coach for Spanish sides Banants and UD Almeria. He was working for CD Mirandes when he received a phone call from Murillo
During the conversation, Murillo explained the vision of his new head coach, who happened to be Andoni Iraola, and after the pair met for the first time, De la Torre was on board
It was the start of a relationship and friendship that, eight years later,rre now find themselves deep into their new club Liverpool’s pre-season as they aim to prepare their players for the season ahead
For those who have spent pre-season consuming Liverpool’s in-house media content, one of the recurring visible figures who has been leading the opening phases of training sessions and pre-match warm-ups is De la Torre
Equipped with a whistle, the 37-year-old has been leading the drills aimed at activating the players ahead of the intense session or game. He offers encouragement and demands that each exercise is carried out with maximum effort
Iraola and De la Torre (second from left) watching a pre-season training session (Nikki Dyer/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Intensity has been the defining word of Liverpool’s pre-season so far, with it constantly being referenced by any player interviewed about what has changed since Iraola’s arrival. The squad have been put through their paces in high-intensity sessions, sometimes twice a day, to build the fitness levels required to carry out the Spaniard’s vision
Competitiveness has been a key theme throughout too. When training concludes with small sided games, losing teams are punished with more running to end the session while the winning team can relax and watch
Having worked together for seven of the past eight years, De la Torre has become Iraola’s trusted lieutenant and his influence, because of his understanding of the 44-year-old’s methods, has developed and grown over time
“Pablo is the physical coach but has been with me almost all the years I have been coaching,” Iraola told reporters in an interview at the start of the recent U.S. pre-season tour. “He is much more than a physical coach, really. He’s an assistant and knows me very well.”
This season, they face a new challenge — preparing a squad that has to deal with domestic and European football while maintaining the intensity required. It is the first time since he was in Cyprus that Iraola has faced this, and the schedule and level of the league are much more demanding now
Last season, Iraola’s Bournemouth side played 40 games, after early exits in both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup. Liverpool will be guaranteed to play at least 48 times this season, and the expectation will be to comfortably exceed 50 matches
There have been positive signs that the players they inherited are understanding what is required of them, but concerns were raised after the friendly against Monaco — the second game Liverpool took a 2-0 lead in before losing — by Iraola’s post-match comments
“The problem is right now, probably, they don’t have the energy for 90 minutes and they start to get tired,” Iraola told Liverpoolfc.com, a point he made on three occasions during the interview. “It will take time with them, we need more training with them.”
World Cup disruption has not helped that preparation process but the belief in their methods will not waver. The time Iraola and De la Torre have spent working together means they know what steps need to be taken to get the players to the levels needed
Back in 2018, Iraola had returned to coach in the youth academy of his hometown club Antiguoko — where he began his footballing journey. He had retired from football in 2016 following an 18-month spell at New York City FC, where his passion for coaching grew
Murillo, who had ended his career at Larnaca, also came through the Antiguoko system at the same time as Iraola. They both moved to Athletic Club together, where at one stage they lived together in a house along with 28 other young players, before they progressed to and played with each other in the first team
“I knew Andoni was an amazing character so I called him and asked what he was thinking for his future and whether he would be interested in the job,” Murillo tells The Athletic
“I spoke to him about his style of play, presented him with the squad and invited him to watch a game and see the city. He was positive about the situation, and he felt it was a good starting point.”
Iraola’s stylistic principles have never altered since he began his coaching career. He demands intensity and aggression, especially out of possession, which means his fitness coach role is important
“In the beginning it was not easy,” says Murillo, who is now a coach in the Real Sociedad academy. “When you don’t know someone, you have to learn about them in the early days and how they work. It was about finding out what Andoni wanted
“Slowly they were matching together well, and both of them were improving themselves as well as each other. Both are high-level people and characters, and the connection between them that has stayed, the first thing is based on loyalty and in this business, loyalty is not easy to find.”
Both, along with the rest of Iraola’s staff, wasted no time trying to implement the Spaniard’s vision, helped by the clear and concise messaging Murillo praises the head coach for
Murillo (centre) spoke about Iraola’s dynamic with De La Torre (Getty Images)
“They did all the training sessions together,” says Murillo. “Andoni was the guy who was the voice of training, and Pablo was behind him, supporting and pushing the players to make sure they were working at the right intensity
“He was important for the structure of sessions, the times, the exercises, the spaces. After training, Pablo was the guy who was taking the players and working with them on injury prevention and always thinking about new ways to improve the quality of the recovery.”
Former Larnaca player David Catala, who was captain when Iraola arrived, chuckles when asked by The Athletic about what pre-season was like under Iraola and De la Torre
“I enjoyed the pre-season because it was something different — we had to suffer but in a good way,” he says. “The ideas from Andoni were clear from the beginning, and Pablo was an amazing physical coach with a big character
“Andoni was obsessed with the reaction. We had a lot of intensive sessions on pressing and transitions. It was always about having a high rhythm. Pablo was involved in the physical part, but he was active during the exercises in the session, pushing the players to maintain that high rhythm
“They had different characters, but they complemented each other. There were not many staff, but the communication was always very good. Andoni was a good man-manager with the players and very nice. Pablo liked to be close to the players too, but he could be more fiery.”
Life as a head coach started well for Iraola as he led Larnaca to Europa League group-stage qualification with aggregate victories over Ireland’s Dundalk (4-0), Austrian side Sturm Graz (7-0) and Slovakia’s AS Trencin (4-1) in the qualifying rounds
That was followed a month later by the first, and to date, only trophy of his managerial career when his side defeated APOEL Nicosia on penalties in the Cypriot Super Cup
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Larnaca started the league season well too, winning seven of their first 10 matches, but their form turned at the beginning of December. They failed to win any of their next six league games, losing four, and after a 2-2 draw with Ermis Aradippou, Iraola was relieved of his duties
Iraola’s dismissal came as a surprise to a number of his players, although Catala, who later managed Larnaca, explains that there is a volatility to decision-making in Cyprus if form deteriorates. He believes that a key reason behind the downturn in form was the team’s struggles to sustain the playing style across multiple competitions. It is an experience that both coaches will have learned from
“They wanted to push up all the time, push the high rhythm,” he says. “We were amazing in the first few months, but then we started to drop. People over 30 were playing all the games with the league and Europa League. We couldn’t repeat it all the time
“Handling the league and Europe was a new experience for them. Pablo wanted to keep the training at high intensity. I remember speaking to him about the older players having difficulties handling the rhythm. There was compromise, but the idea remained the same. They trusted their process, and their way of thinking has led them to Liverpool.”
De la Torre remained at Larnaca after Iraola was dismissed, before departing at the end of the season. They remained on separate paths as Iraola became head coach of second-tier Spanish side CD Mirandes while De la Torre joined the staff of Valencia’s B team
They remained apart for only 12 months. When Iraola left Mirandes and was appointed as head coach of another second-tier side, Rayo Vallecano, De la Torre formed part of his backroom staff as the fitness coach
A senior staff member at Rayo Vallecano, speaking to The Athletic under the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, recalls De la Torre as being a highly capable and dynamic person, full of energy and with a very playful character that had an excellent day-to-day relationship with the players. One of the players who worked with him, who also asked to be kept anonymous to protect relationships, described him to The Athletic as a “very good person and very professional”
He was primarily responsible for physical conditioning, where he was described as “very effective” at managing training workloads. He also contributed to tasks that went beyond purely physical preparation, helping out with tactical aspects
Iraola led Vallecano to promotion to La Liga in his first season in charge, before two respectable mid-table finishes in the following two seasons. He also led the club to their first Copa del Rey semi-final in 40 years in 2022
That continued when they arrived at Bournemouth in 2023 and were introduced to coaches Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper, who have also followed Iraola to Liverpool. Iraola transformed Bournemouth’s fortunes with finishes of 12th, ninth and sixth
In an interview with Spanish sports newspaper AS in June, De la Torre spoke glowingly about his colleague and friend and the key to their success on the south coast
“The key is building a game model and team identity, where players truly believe in the coach’s idea,” he said. “He builds brave teams capable of believing they can beat anyone. He’s incredibly intelligent, leads by example, and has a rare emotional stability in such a visceral sport
“From day one, you sense he’s different — his ability to read the game and its needs is almost unique. He filters information so players can digest it easily and apply it every week.”
The challenge facing Iraola and De la Torre is replicating that at one of the biggest clubs in the world, where expectations are huge and time is at a premium, with just over a week left until the Premier League season begins
