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So which of his two unique feats in football is Spanish coach Marcelino most proud? Being sacked by Peter Lim at Valencia for trying to win a trophy, or being the first coach to put Athletic Bilbao's Williams brothers on the pitch together?

Mention of the first one, more of which later, brings laughter. And the second is downplayed. 

'I didn't see anything in him that the youth coaches at the club had not already seen,' Marcelino says of Nico Williams who debuted for Athletic last season, and for Spain last week. It's been some week for the Williams brothers. 

The 20-year-old set-up an injury time winner which put Spain in next season's Nations League final four. And older brother Iñaki debuted for Ghana. The pair could play against each other if they both get out of their groups in Qatar.

Beyond this November's World Cup there is feeling in Spain that Marcelino, who won the Spanish Super Cup with Athletic, beating Madrid and Barça en-route, will be the coach once Luis Enrique decides to return to club management.

For now Marcelino says he's enjoying 'watching' football, including the Premier League, as opposed to 'analysing' it like a coach over-anxious to return. Last week he sat back and revelled in Nico's performance for Spain. And then enjoyed both Nico and Iñaki scoring as Athletic went third in LaLiga.

'For a young player, staying in the team is always more difficult than getting into the team,' Marcelino says of Nico's progress.

'There are highs and lows and that can take away confidence so you are trying to tell him what he's doing well, what he's not doing so well, and making that process of improvement as smooth as possible.

'Young players are usually in too much of a hurry and you want to guard against that sense of urgency becoming a negative in their development.'

As well as putting Nico in the team last season, Marcelino also has an enduring bond with Iñaki who he believes has had a massive influence on his younger brother.

'Iñaki is like a father to Nico because he has gone through all this before, and because he has certain values that make him a very good role model.'

That showed itself in last season's Spanish Super Cup final when Nico took his runners-up medal off and was told to put it back on by his older brother.

'I can overstate what an extraordinary human being Iñaki is,' Marcelino says. 'Nico can't have a better role model – someone who is a consummate professional, who is in the dressing room with him, and who is his brother. Who better to tell him: this is the right path to fulfil your talent.'

Iñaki's journey has been longer and more arduous than Nico's. His mother Maria was pregnant with him as she crossed the Sahara with Iñaki's father Felix from Ghana to Spain 28 years ago. Nico was born eight years later in Pamplona.

Iñaki establishing himself in the Bilbao team, for years not even properly aware of the horror of his parents' journey to Spain is one feat, to then not miss a league game through injury or suspension for five years is another.

'He has great genes, first and foremost,' says Marcelino. 'But you also need to train and live well because the demands are so high.'

He doesn't rule out Nico being blessed with the same fitness despite a hamstring injury last season. 'Maybe his football development has been ahead of his physical development and who is to say in a few years time he won't have the same physical attributes as his brother.'