Athletic Club 0-Racing 0: No Reward

Athletic Club deserved a greater reward than to end the match with a Nil-Nil draw, nevertheless their inability to score, especially in the second half, has cost them dearly.

The rojiblancos did not have any difficulty in the defence area, although they did take a long time in applying the pressure on their rivals whose only aim was to defend. As shown by the fact that the team from Cantabria did not take another shot at goal after Ayoze’s shot was deflected to corner by Aranzubia in the 2nd minute. As the minutes passed Racing had just one objective: to reach a draw in the match and, they got it. Although our player’s good work in defence should be appreciated as they were able to contain their opponents.

In addition to the excellent Racing defence, Athletic Club were somewhat lacking in the first thirty minutes when it came to finishing off the multiple raids made in rival territory. However, we should mention the run made by Etxeberria which was repelled by a defender in the 19th minute as the most note-worthy part of the first half.

At the beginning of the second half, Serrano stepped in for S. Dalmat, which in theory meant that the rival would adopt a more offensive position, but in reality nothing much had changed. Racing limited themselves to holding back their players and to piling up yellow cards, a total of five during this period. On the contrary, the red-white opportunities were more than numerous. To start with, Fran Yeste had his best opportunity in the 54th minute, when he took a shot at goal with the left, after having received a pass from Llorente, which hit the posts.

Preciado replaced Antoñito with J. Valle in an attempt to counterattack the red-white defence. At the same time, Mendilibar sent Iraola to the right wing, who stepped in for Expósito, resulting in the team having greater depth on the field. During this period, Gurpegi was pushed and Llorente was held back in the 70th minute but the referee didn’t consider these situations as punishable. Preciado sent Vitolo in for Aganzo, in a vain attempt to take control of the centre of the field, whereas Athletic persisted in their struggle to score a goal: Yeste finished off with a header in the 78th minute… against his own team-mate Casas, in the 80th, a Lacruz header was stopped by Dudu, in the 82nd minute Guerrero came onto the field replacing Tiko and, a minute later almost scored when he finished off a shot from the ground against the goalkeeper’s body.

The opportunities did not stop there, Llorente finished off with a header which was caught by the goalkeeper in the 84th minute. He received many hugs just as he has in each match. In the 93rd minute, there was still a chance but Yeste, whose weight was on the back foot, missed and the ball flew over the crossbar so too the two points from San Mamés.

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