Any town that boasts a Laurel and Hardy bar has to be admired.

Itty-bitty Eibar, wedged in the Basque country mountains halfway between Bilbao and San Sebastian, with a population of 27,500, channels the comic pair’s surreal genius.

This sliver of a community has hosted all the recent La Liga greats until 2021 and is a truly tremendous trip, though not easily reached.

Stan and Ollie can be found next to the central plaza which was chocker on Saturday afternoon, several hours before kick-off.

From there it’s quite a trek up the hill to the ground, almost as if it was deliberately situated at the town’s highest point.

You pass some interesting stuff though, as per above and below.

There’s even a Scot-smitten fan group in town.

According to a piece on the sport website As: ‘Admiraban todo el relativo al de pais escoces’ – they liked everything about Scotland (what about the rain chaps?) so decided to set up a pena, a fan group, inspired by the Scots/bagpipes/whisky/The Gorbals/etc in 2001.

Reach the top and give yourself a medal. You earned it.

Founded in 1940 Eibar finally arrived in La Liga in the 2014/15 season but are back in the second division after relegation in 2021 and were 14th before the game, hosting Albacete, who were 17th.

The game kicked off in total silence. A two-minute tribute in which, as above, large portions of the crowd held up ‘Richard 49’ banners – presumably a tribute to a departed pal.

Almost immediately it ended Eibar won a free kick outside the box. It hit the wall but the rebound was potted by Ander Madariaga whose shirt bears the name ‘Mada’, from 20 yards. 1-0. Respect. That one was for Richard.

But Eibar’s heady La Liga larks are over and they weren’t able to magic up some more mojo to capitalise on a great start.

In fact Albacete we’re probably the better team throughout, left wing Jon Morcillo catching the eye. He managed 30-odd games for Atletic Bilbao a few years back but, at 26, has moved on.

He set up the equaliser with a tenacious run for Javier Rueda to squeeze home the equaliser on 49.

Which set up an even second half in which Eibar were frustrated, as were the fans, by an impressive effort by the visitors.

1-1 was entirely fair and highlighted the Second division’s attraction. Having seen three Luton championship games this season, the quality might not be the same but the entertainment was certainly next level, in a match attended by around 5,000 fans.

They weren’t too chuffed by the result but I loved every minute. A revelatory day out.

And after all that, it was time to head down the hill to share the joy with Stan and Ollie.