Athletic Club - RC Deportivo
Matchday 31
Liga

Athletic Club - RC Deportivo

Athletic Club
Athletic Club
01
RC Deportivo
RC Deportivo
  • Pablo Álvarez 86'

LocationSan Mamés , Bilbo

Unjust Setback

An important match slipped away from Athletic yesterday in their future options in view of…

Athletic Club

An important match slipped away from Athletic yesterday in their future options in view of the much-needed league tranquillity, in an incredible way. The loss of at least one of the three points in play happened after an unbelievably lucky play, described by the winners themselves as a sporadic event and totally in agreement with what was witnessed in San Mamés.

After a truly indecisive beginning on the part of both squads, and with little game and lots of yearning, Athletic and Depor quickly began to visualize that the encounter was going to be a hand-to-hand fight, in which a brilliant start, a talented play, or a stroke of luck, would settle the outcome of the meet.

It is true that the Galician team offered little work to Iraizoz, who solved the afternoon adequately, save the final accident. So true that Miguel Angel Lotina’s men controlled a first act in which they also felt at ease with the marker and the shape of things.

Athletic threatened, but it couldn’t get ahead on the scoreboard, because of a play in which a commendable penetration by Llorente, guided with care by David Lopez, and finally finished off by Iraola, was aborted by a Coruña defender when the ball was on its way to the goalmouth. It was time to suffer.

The awaited start to the second half prolonged itself a few minutes. A problem detected by the linesman in the engineer’s goal delayed re-start. And well, the rojiblanco team was not a hurricane, but they came on to resolve the situation. If not a windstorm, it was gale, and in passing they insufflated air into the stands. Llorente, Yeste, Orbaiz and Toquero, extremely active for most of the ninety minutes they played, put a confident Aranzubia to the test.

Things as they were, the lions definitively took the reins of the match, still, always with the Sword of Damocles in the shape of a lethal Deportivo offence in the horizon; or a bad break of luck. And in a somewhat confusing play, because of the position of the blanquiazules when it comes to the offside, ended up with a shot by Pablo Alvarez which stumbled into Koikili and sent the ball into Iraizoz’ net. You’d have to see it to believe it.

We still have 34 points on the table. Not more, nor less. It’s usually commented that it is more appropriate for professionals to dispute their next contest as quickly as possible, to maintain the tension fitting of the competition and think that a new opportunity is near to be able to compensate for a defeat. The team can. And they have before them the opportunity to distance themselves from the snake pit in Soria.