Osasuna 3-Athletic Club 2: Unlucky

Athletic Club was not able to take home a single point in the derby match played at the Sadar and were defeated by Osasuna (3-2). Raul García, Milosevic and Webo having scored on behalf of the home team and Gurpegi and Iraola for the Red-Whites.

Athletic Club did not deserve this result, however, their luck ran out during the last stages of the match and the team returned home empty-handed. Unfortunately when the team played well they were not able to take advantage of the situation and, when they played badly our rivals were merciless taking advantage of our team’s lack of concentration, something which we need to work on in order to start the climb back up the league ladder.

In this match Mikel Dañobeitia made his debut and Urzaiz regained his place in the team. Athletic Club started off well and they had several opportunities in the 7th, 8th and 14th minute. Urzaiz had the first opportunity but his shot went high, Orbaiz had his when he took a long distance shot at goal that missed and Tiko wasted his opportunity when his shot at goal, which was the result of a foul, missed its mark completely.

Osasuna’s first opportunity came at the hands of Romeo whose kick had just missed in the 15th minute. At this stage the rojiblancos were in control of the match and the first goal was scored by Gurpegi, who had sent the ball into the back of the net after the ball had been repelled from under the posts twice in the 26th minute. Urzaiz had played an important role in the scoring of this goal as it was his header that started it all off and he ended up needing several stitches in his left eyebrow as a result. Shortly afterwards, Dañobeitia had almost hit the nail on the head, but despite being within close range, his shot at goal went astray. However, just when everything seemed to be under control, the match took a turn for the worse in the final minutes of the first half. Just like it had in our previous matches against Villarreal and Sevilla. If you remember our opponents scored a goal just before the half time interval. As you can see history repeats itself and Raul García was able to score a great goal from far away after having taken advantage of several inefficient attempts to clear the ball.

Webo and Valdo, who were sent in to defend their team’s colours, made their presence felt. Delporte gave Aranzubia a work-out in the 46th minute and Milosevic’s header missed its mark in the 60th minute, but soon afterwards Milosevic struck back when his shot at goal found its mark after having received a ball to the centre from Javier Flaño. All seemed to be lost, but Athletic fought back especially when Llorente came onto the field and he had his opportunities in the 72nd and 78th minute. Llorente attacked again one minute later but his shot at goal hit the crossbar.

A bad attempt to clear the ball by the local goalkeeper resulted in Iraola, who had to struggle with a rival defender, scoring the equalizing goal in the 81st minute. A draw would have been a fair result but Osasuna never gave up. Delporte took a shot at goal which was deflected to corner by Aranzubia in the 89th minute and then Webo scored the match winning goal in the 92nd minute leaving Athletic Club with a bitter taste in its mouth.

In summing up the match, we would like to draw your attention to the following: the bad memory of the local fans when shouting at the players, Carlos Gurpegi in particular; the referee’s inability to call fouls e.g. when Urzaiz and Llorente were held back; the reprehensible behaviour of certain people found in the Osasuna VIP Box who thought they had the right to do whatever they liked just because they had paid more for their seats and last but not least the solid support that the Red-White fans gave our team.

Next Saturday’s game against Celta will be a challenge for our first team just as our present situation is a challenge for the Athletic Club fans. Now is the time to support a team that has its own unique philosophy which we defend with pride. We need your support during the good times and the bad times.

It is a difficult path our players need to take and they should not have to do this on their own. Even though it is hard we need to leave our opinions aside and for this reason it is very important for our team to feel the warmth and support from the stands in their match against Celta, which will help the team to get back on their feet.

If anyone thinks that the Club is going to unfairly criticize or ridicule any member of the team for their performance, then they should know that this is not logical and what’s worse that they do not really comprehend Athletic Club. We all we need to learn to rise from the punches and work together towards the only possible solution to this situation. The solution being; a lot of hard work, improvement of our game and the cutback on errors.