Real Sociedad 3 Athletic Club 3: A two-faced affair.

Athletic Club and Real Sociedad reached a (3-3) draw in a two-faced affair. Athletic showed their worst side in the first half and their best in the second and took home one point, which may be considered fair or unfair if we take into account the entire match. However, every point counts in our club’s struggle to climb back up the league ladder. The derby has shown us what the team lacks but on a positive note some of their virtues as well for example, their ability to make face and fight till the very end.

Athletic Club player Aduriz made his goal-scoring debut and scored two goals, Iraola scored a goal as well. Three goals were needed to match the two scored by Nihat and a goal by Skoubo. Unai Expósito and Lafuente had to take an anti-doping test and to make things worse Joseba Etxeberria was injured. It seems that he has injured the femoral biceps muscle of his right leg, however, a further assessment will be made on Monday.

Sticking to the script as that of recent years, the match was very much alive. Once Athletic Club decided to penetrate rival territory, they had opportunities to play their normal game and pinned their sights on Skoubo and Nihat, who in the first and second minute of the match already had great goal-scoring opportunities against the Red-Whites. In the 6th minute, a play between these two ended in Nihat finishing off a shot at goal.

Athletic Club were able to respond and Gurpegi had a clear goal-scoring opportunity in the 11th minute, however, Riesgo was able to send the ball to corner. Gurpegi had another opportunity when this corner was taken but this time his shot at goal, a header, went over the crossbar. In the 15th minute Joseba Etxeberria fired away but Riesgo once more sent the ball to corner. From that moment on, it seemed that our team were mere spectators. Nihat and Skoubo waited for the long pass and in one of their many counterattacks, Skoubo made a great pass to the feet of the Turkish player Nihat who was able to score, beating Lafuente who only managed to touch the ball with his foot.

To top it all off, Joseba Etxeberria was injured in the 44th minute, and Urzaiz was sent in to replace him. At the end of the first half the situation was grim but Athletic Club have shown on the field that they never give up the fight despite the fact that sometimes thing don’t go as planned. The rojiblancos got into the match after the break thanks to Aduriz, whose header found its mark in the 48th minute, after having received a pass to the centre from Orbaiz, which was the result of a team effort.

Real Sociedad had no choice but to ride out the storm, it’s not that they played badly but simply Athletic Club were playing well. One minute later, Aduriz was at it again and hammered the ball but Riesgo was able to deflect it. However, Aduriz was able to get the ball back on the rebound and pass it on to Julen Guerrero, who was not able to beat a defender. Yeste took a shot at a goal, the result of a foul, but was unlucky in his attempt.

There were changes made to both teams after the first fifteen minutes of the second half: Dañobeitia stepped in for Guerrero and went to cover the left wing so that Fran Yeste, could move more to the centre while Amorrortu sent Gaizka Garitano to replace Novo.

Athletic Club kept on attacking; monopolizing the ball and the opportunities kept coming. An Urzaiz header, which was cleared from under the posts, in the 63rd minute. Again in the same minute, Dañobeitia passed the ball perfectly but Aduriz was unable to score against Riesgo, however, he made amends 4 minutes later and scored his second goal, a line shot, after having received a pass from behind from Dañobeitia.

Despite all of this, the joy lasted little when in minute 68 of the game Skoubo hooked a great shot which ended up goal after having intercepted it with his arm. Once more the home team were ahead. Then Tiko was sent in to replace Gurpegi in minute 71 of the encounter. Aduriz could have scored the equalizing goal in the 82nd minute, Barkero replaced Garrido in the 84th, while Nihat took a shot at goal that went high in one of few opportunities created by Real Sociedad. Uranga stepped in for an injured Skoubo in the 85th minute.

Time was almost up but the match was not over yet. Iraola took a shot at goal in minute 89 of the game but Jauregi managed to clear it from under the crossbar, Nihat responded one minute later with a header that was well caught by Lafuente and in yet another Red-White attack (the ball possession percentage overwhelmingly in Athletic Club’s favour) Dañobeitia received a ball from Urzaiz and kicked it to the centre and this time Iraola, who was in a dubious position, was able to send the ball to the back of the net and in this way score the equalizing goal.

A one point consolation prize, that doesn’t help dig our way out of the hole we find ourselves in but at least gives us the energy needed to win next Saturday against Getafe.