Athletic Club 1-Seville 3: All in vain

Athletic Club has not been able to take advantage of the situation offered by the rest of the day’s results and is now five points away from obtaining a place in European competitions. It is not impossible, but it will be very difficult because there are only five match-days left. It was not for the want of trying, however Sevilla, with the aid of some great plays, were able to impose their will in the encounter without mentioning their sidelined players.

It all began with a Baptista free kick in the 7th minute, a call that was highly criticized by the rojiblanco players who thought that Baptista had been exaggerating. His shot from the edge of the area found its mark. Tiko made an attempt in the 9th minute, but Navas, Jesus, committed a foul in the 13th minute leaving the rojiblancos to protest once again at the omission of a call by the referee. Etxeberria was next to try his luck, in this case with his left in the minute 18, but again it was Navas with his left who scored an impressive goal, not only because it was his scoring debut in the premier division, but because he beat three defenders Del Horno, Lacruz and Gurpegi before hammering the ball past Aranzubia.

There was no holding back and leading up to the halftime break the vast majority of opportunities were made by Athletic Club. The clearest being a header by Urzaiz that was repelled by Notario in the 24th minute, as well as a shot from Yeste with his right in the 33rd, a ball that was deflected by the defence and that resulted in a corner after a centre by Del Horno in the 38th minute, a foul shot by Tiko which was stopped by the goalkeeper in the minute 40 and a header that Del Horno shot wide in the 45th. To counter, only a good finishing shot from Adriano in the 43rd minute is worth mentioning, but they did not need more.

In the second half, the Rojiblancos’ control and command in the match was greater, however, they were not as dangerous. The first opportunity came with a smooth shot at goal by Adriano with the right in the 46th minute and was followed by Ezquerro who was not able to overcome a one to one with Notario. And from then on Athletic seemed to have faded, though their want to make up the difference had not, even after Sevilla scored their third goal which was scored by Baptista after plunging in a Jesus Navas cross in the 76th minute, their second clearest incursion of the second half. Despite it all, the consolation goal scored by Guerrero was bittersweet because, unfortunately, it did not account for much.

What about the referee? Athletic Club did not lose because of his decisions and all the weeping done with regards to referees lead us nowhere; however, if we were asked about his performance we would have to say that it has been quite deficient. Moving on from this futile controversy, we expect the team to react in Madrid next Saturday with the hope that, like the female team that was honoured during the pre-match festivities, we will soon have reason for celebration.