Athletic Club 1-Ecomax Cluj 0: Goodbye to the Intertoto in the penalty shoot-out

Unfortunately the well-known history has been repeated and Athletic Club has said good-bye to another competition, in this case the Intertoto, in the penalty shoot-out. The match had ended with the same 1-0 as in the first leg, but in the extra time no goals were scored and in the penalty shoot-out it all started uphill to finally end up eliminated.

The Rumanians have blatantly come out on the attack, all set to settle the elimination round on the fast route, but once the initial nerves were overcome, our team has balanced the bout. The only similarity with respect to the match of a week ago has been that the host team obtained its goal less than ten minutes to the break and has done so with a header, on this occasion through Javi González from a centre by Jonan. In second half, the initiative has been mostly red-and-white, although the occasions have shone by their absence. The clearest have been an attempt to deflect by the Rumanians in the minute 60, that has ended up in the crossbar, and an occasion by De Paula in the 61st minute.

As the hands on the clock ticked away so did our team’s strength, in spite of trying to also take the weight of the encounter during the extra time. During that period the most diaphanous occasions have been two. First by Coroian in the 99th minute, stopped by Lafuente, and the second was for the locals, with a shot by Guerrero stopped by Turcas in the minute 114. And without further frights the penalty shoot-out arrived with its well-known outcome, that of the defeat.

1-0, goal; 1-0 Ustaritz, out wide
2-0 Jula Vlajic, goal; 2-1 Gontzal, goal
3-1 Toma, goal; 3-2 Ibon Gutiérrez, goal
4-2 Anca, goal; 4-3 Guerrero, goal
5-3 Coroian, goal

As a conclusion we should be congratulated for the future that some of our players have demonstrated. On the other hand, for future commitments in this competition, the positive and negative aspects of the same have been manifested. Now we should be concentrate on the pre-season.