The greatest moments of the 2019-20 season

A few weeks before a new campaign kicks off, the women’s first team are recharging their batteries to get back to a competition that had to be interrupted in March. We have no choice but to leave behind a season in which the lionesses have given us great moments. A season marked by the significant progress made from the beginning and the qualification for the Copa de la Reina semi-final.

Fate decreed that there would be two difficult fixtures on the road among the first league games, in Buñol and Paterna -both of them in Valencia-, withan unfavourable 2-0 as the final result. And yet, we must not forget that the side was able to beat Madrid CFF by a wide margin in the second matchweek, in a game where Marta Perea scored her debut goal as a red-and-white player thanks to a wonderful chip. In their fifth league fixture, with 3 points in their tally, the squad travelled to the neighbouring city of Donosti, ready to make their presence felt -which they certainly did by winning 2-1 over Real Sociedad at Reale Arena. A run form Azkona, the footballer with the most assists in the season, helped Nekane open the scoring.

After falling to a defeat against Granadilla in Tenerife -a stadium where Athletic Club have always found it difficult to play- in Matchweek 8, the team built up momentum, not counting a single loss in the following 5 games, winning away against Rayo Vallecano and Sporting de Huelva and picking up a point from Centro Deportivo Wanda against Atlético de Madrid.

The side were well-established when the league was halted

FC Barcelona arrived at San Mamés at the beginning of 2020. Villacampa’s side stood their ground against current league title holders, even though the win was notched up by the Catalan side. Playing against Levante a week later, Andrea Sierra scored her first goal for the first team at Lezama. The centre-back equalled the match just before the final whistle, earning the lionesses a valuable point. The side suffered a great blow in their following league fixture, falling to a 4-1 defeat at Matapiñonera, but that game represented a turning point for them. They did not lose any of the games played afterwards. In the 18^th game-week, Lucía García crushed Valencia with a single goal at Lezama. A week later, the forward secured their victory against Deportivo Abanca at Abegondo -a pitch where no other team had beaten the hosts until then. The second half of the league was promising and the teams’ aspirations mainly consisted in finishing as high as possible in the standings. Then COVID-19 arrived, the Primera Iberdrola came to a halt and, some time later, the end of the 2019-20 season was eventually confirmed.

As for the Copa de la Reina, the round of sixteen clash against Granadilla turned out to be truly exciting, including an agonising extra time at Lezama. San Mamés hosted the quarter-final match, where two penalties converted by Garazi Murua allowed the red-and-white side to get into the cup semi-final. The team’s sights are now set on competing in another grand final, one of their biggest challenges for the upcoming season.