Athletic Club - Real Madrid

Athletic Club 1 Real Madrid 0


Athletic Club beat Real Madrid by 1-0, the goal having been scored by Fernando Llorente in minute 2 of the game only one minute after Gurpegi, who ended up being sent off after being shown two yellow cards, and Toquero had both taken a shot at goal and with both of them hitting the post. From that moment on most of the goal-scoring opportunities, thirteen in all were had by Real Madrid, but the effectiveness coupled with the good work in defence endorsed by a great performance on behalf of our goalkeeper permitted our club to obtain the 30 points in the standings. A good first half of the season, however, with still one difficult match still left to play, next Saturday in A Coruña.

The duel was a classical one, fashion aside. A great atmosphere in the packed stands, tension and a fierce-looking duel on the pitch, controversial refereeing to say the least, a tremendous display of encouragement for our team and, perhaps, fortunately, the big difference lay in the fact that if we compare this match with previous ones, who knows how many rival fans would have come out of the closet…

To make things more difficult, Athletic left there marks energetically, they were even unstoppable at times, just as in the past. In the first minute of the match a move by Llorente ended up being finished off by Gurpegi with his left hitting the post and the rebound was in kicking distance for Toquero, who was completely alone against Casillas but his shot at goal struck the other post. A shame and our first woe, seeing that everyone knows that such misses can cost dearly in any match, and even more so in these types of encounters against rivals like Real Madrid. Nevertheless, the grieving period was brief. One minute later a corner kick taken by Yeste was sent behind (brushed) towards Lass and Llorente finished if off with a header near the right post. One-nil, high level of effectiveness and a lesson for the disbelievers who thought that the goal had come too early in the game for the team to affront the enormous task of maintaining their lead on the scoreboard.

It’s not the first time that this stance, akin to the Soviet or Russian miner, as you prefer, whose surname is Stakhanov and who was an instigator of a labour movement to achieve greater production, is mentioned. We do not know if our performance can be considered ” Stakhanovite” but we do know that after the goal there was a hectic series of comings and goings on behalf of our thirteen members and thousands of supporters to ensure that the fourteenth player, Iraizoz, and it wasn’t the first time, could keep his goal immaculate and goalless, Iraizoz joined the party by taking us back to that era when a good performance, for example, that of Iribar, was associated with the attainment of points. A match, in the end, to revert to old tendencies and to confirm that labels such as great are no longer reserved for outstanding teams.

On the less positive side, as there is also one, we should mention that our team needed a dose of calmness at certain times. It’s not enough just to defend well and block the rival’s penetration, or at least attempt it, if the effects of the dose are not long-lasting, which in turn gave our opponents a certain dose of superiority knowing that the ball would be back in their possession soon. Against a team like Real Madrid this meant multiplying our efforts even more.

To make things worse, and even though this sounds strange considering the final score, the rival that had paid us a visit to the Cathedral were nothing like last season’s team who beat us by 2-5. The current Real Madrid team is readier, more armed, more mature, stronger and more vertical, despite the fact that some of their so-called Galactic stars still conserve some nervous tics from the previous generations of meringues. To give an example, 18 April 1984, San José, who has nothing to do with our Mikel, was sent off by Enríquez Negreira after throwing an object to the crowd at San Mamés in minute 57 of a Copa semi-final… and it’s just that no matter how badly a professional may be spoken to, not getting involved is a sign and also a symptom of maturity.

As though this were not enough, rather than talking about Athletic, which seems fair, the referee for this match had the dirt piled on him, from Madrid, during the whole week accusing him of practically being at the service of their eternal rival following his performance in the FC Barcelona-Villareal match. In addition to what the experts say in this field and then what the wise editorialists put on paper, it could be said that some people will have to find another bête noire.
Soon after having the goal scored against them, Real Madrid launched into attack mode and did this in droves, with special emphasis on, so that later it can be said, strategic moves, well orchestrated by Alonso and with all their players looking dangerous, but with no reward at all. Benzema provided the gunpowder and a dynamic Ronaldo the show, though not always with the best intention, perhaps burdened by a theatrical conception of football when it comes to seeing himself obliged to (over) act and deem that everything deserves the red carpet treatment. Nothing further from the truth in the football world which is becoming more and more competitive and physical each day.

As far as Benzema was concerned he wanted to make the most out of his comeback to the starting line up and so much so that he pulled the trigger in the 7th minute with a good shot at goal on the half turn that was well repelled by Iraizoz. This was the start of a beautiful tale with a happy ending. In the 10th minute he insisted once more with an identical intervention forcing Iraizoz to close the gap, and again in the 34th, when his ball had made its way to the bottom of the post. In the other four, white, goal-scoring opportunities of the first half the stars of the show were some of the other players, such as Ronaldo who had tried to take advantage of even his presence on the ground surface in the 23rd minute, but Iraizoz managed to deflect it with his hand just in time, Marcelo and Alonso both had a go with long-distance shots at goal either caught or repelled by the goalkeeper and Garay, whose header and great leap had deviated the flight of the ball. In spite of the feeling of impotence which at times the rival started to show signs of, their skill and prowess is undeniable and Athletic had to work hard so as not to be intimidated, but Real were not able to respond clearly, or at least anesthetize the situation, hindered by the quick losses of ball possession.

Only during injury time was Llorente near enough to finish off, with a header, a foul kick to the centre taken by Yeste. Not much, but a great lead to be maintained at the start of the second half. Furthermore, the second half became tenser as the minutes ticked on, but the commencement had nothing to do with that of the first half. Real Madrid manoeuvred forward with less speed and ideas. Just that, the first goal-scoring opportunity belonged to Athletic in the 54th minute when Llorente came into contact with the ball in the area, but he needed a fraction of a second more to finish it off at point-blank range.

One hour into the game Pellegrini sent Guti in to replace Marcelo in an attempt to find more moves in the middle seeing that those players on the wings weren’t having their day when it came to manoeuvring. To be honest they were soon compensated, at least somewhat, given that in the 61st minute Guti started a play that would end up being a one to one between Ronaldo and Iraizoz that was ruined by the latter and in the 62nd minute Ronnaldo’s line shot coming from a foul also ended up in the goalie’s hands. On the Red-White blackboard Susaeta stepped in for Orbaiz, sending Gurpegi to the right in the double pivot position. The remaining goal-scoring opportunities from the half dozen opportunities counted in the second half came about, now by way of Kaka. The first was caught by Iraizoz, the second on the half turn following a centre pass by Ronaldo, sailed over the crossbar, and the third which missed after having just scraped past the post, although the referee awarded a corner. Then Pellegrini made some substitutions, Granero in for Lass and Raúl, who had taken a shot at goal that was deflected, stepped in for Benzema.

Caparrós, on his behalf, opted for David López and sent him in to replace Yeste sending Susaeta now to the right and, given that all the physical effort had worn Toquero out he had to be replaced by De Marcos. With still quarter of an hour left, injury time included, the match was full of intensity, excitement and tension and Athletic played each ball as if it were the last ball of the game. Real Madrid had ball possession, but not until the first minute of injury time did they look dangerous…. and how, as Iraizoz was forced to repel a tremendous shot at goal taken by a stressed out Ronaldo with his left.

A couple of minutes before Athletic had had their last goal-scoring opportunities. One by means of a great shot by Llorente that was repelled by Casillas and another from a possible penalty committed against the forward which the referee, from a good position, apparently did not see. Later a so-called divided ball with Ramos’s foot ending up on top of Gurpegi’s meant a second yellow card being shown to the midfielder. Happily though these last ditch efforts were not necessary to achieve the three golden points and their value taking the League ladder, the visiting rival into account and because these points reward the team-work of a solid squad and go to show once again that with our weapons we can defeat millionaire rival teams (or at least those who can afford to spend such huge quantities)

A couple of days off to savour the taste of victory and soon Athletic will get back into the League with two consecutive away games, in A Coruña and in Cornellá, in an attempt to better the already good harvest of 45 points as our main objective, and just as that old expression goes … one match at a time. Henceforth the situation will determine what will occur.