Athletic Club - CD Tenerife
Matchday 23
Liga

Athletic Club - CD Tenerife

Athletic Club
Athletic Club
41
CD Tenerife
CD Tenerife
  • 17' Llorente (p.)
  • 22' Toquero
  • 53' Iraola
  • 62' Gabilondo
  • Alfaro 59'

LocationSan Mamés , Bilbo

Superiority well taken advantage of

Athletic Club 4 Tenerife 1Athletic Club beat Tenerife by 4-1. Llorente, from a penalty, Toquero,…

Athletic Club

Athletic Club 4 Tenerife 1


Athletic Club beat Tenerife by 4-1. Llorente, from a penalty, Toquero, Iraola and Gabilondo were the goal scorers. The Red-Whites made perfect use of their numerical superiority immediately after the incident that brought about the 1-0 score and the sending off of Culebras, and as a result the maximum penalty was converted into goal by Llorente, though Tenerife did not give in at any time. Then the second goal that was scored almost immediately by Toquero, and this was the status quo up to the break, Athletic had put the match on the right track and despite Alfaro’s goal that reduced the lead after the third local goal was scored by Iraola, Gabilondo was able to lock the door and throw away the key and Luciano Martín, who was on the bench yesterday due to the coach being sanctioned, opted to give something of a rest to Llorente, Gurpegi and Toquero. The fourth consecutive League victory at home and only one point behind the European spots and this season, another opportunity to go forward on Thursday. Brussels awaits us.

Athletic Club’s entrance was a spirited affair, on hand a team with half a dozen new faces in the starting eleven line up compared with last Thursday’s European appointment, knowing how important it is to become strong at San Mamés and that’s how things went, more or less, an individual move in the third minute by David Lopéz whose shot went astray, but the match came to a sudden halt and the duel entered into a state of hibernation. Nevertheless everybody woke up from their lethargy soon, now a quarter of an hour into the game the encounter started to be defined, and how!.

An Amorebieta run from his side of the pitch to the area, and the ball ended up at Toquero’s feet, which gave way to a penalty and later a red card for Culebras. Llorente tricked Aragoneses and converted the free kick with David Lopéz y Koikili also wanting to take the free kick.

The most difficult thing in these types of matches is to open the rival’s armour (defence) and this was already being achieved, but in addition our team knew how to deal with their superiority in numbers and, in fact, in a few minutes had put the clash on the right track. Following Iturraspe’s volley that went high in the 20th minute, and with the rival defence a little more forward than at the beginning, in the 22nd a header by Llorente was prolonged by David Lopéz behind the defence and Toquero standing firm alone in front of Aragoneses beat him with ease.

Oltra sent Manolo Martínez in to replace Ayoze and Mikel Alonso went to position himself again on the halfway line, while Alfaro positioned himself on the left wing. The Cathedral was calm once more along with the artificial dominion on behalf of a goalless Tenerife, while on behalf of the Red-Whites a Llorente line shot and, especially, a one to one between David Lopéz and the rival goalkeeper during injury time, which the latter was able to save, were the only plays up to the interval.

No substitutions and with the doubt of how our team were going to tackle the rest of the match, the second half got underway. The difficulties were soon to be over with, seeing that with the exception of Mikel Alonso’s chip shot caught by Iraizoz at the re-start, the match had turned into an Athletic monologue. Iraola had a goal disallowed in the 48th minute, but five minutes later Koikili’s centre – kick was intercepted in the area by Iraola, who calmly beat Aragoneses. Everything seemed to be lost so Oltra sent Kome onto the pitch to substitute Mikel Alonso and the team from the Canary Islands got going for some time until Alfaro scored a goal (3-1) by means of a powerful shot at goal with the right from within the area.

Díaz de Cerio stepped in for Llorente and Athletic Club were set on putting an end to the match, this time beyond doubt, giving the rival no time to think about reacting. Three minutes later, a good centre by Toquero from the right was sent to the opposite side for Gabilondo to score our fourth goal (4-1).

With the cat in the bag and little less than half an hour left to play, Etxeberria replaced Gurpegi and the team went after their fifth goal, although Toquero came across Aragoneses after a spectacular individual move. San José and Iraola could have also increased the local lead after each of their corner kicks, but their respective shots with the foot and head had gone astray. What’s more De Cerio could have scored his first goal in an official competition after Etxeberria’s centre but De Cerio’s shot at goal was cleared from under the posts by a defender.

After the downpour, Tenerife had their turn with a ball by Alfaro that went high, just like another great shot at goal by Gabilondo with the left had gone, this time, cleared by Aragoneses. Muniain stepped in for Toquero just like Richi had done earlier with Juanlu. The visitors, perhaps also with their sight set on their enthusiastic fans and after their long journey, went for broke, and before Etxeberria could see how the rival hero, Aragoneses, despite all the goals, had saved his shot at goal taken after a centre by Iraola, the rivals poured on the attack. Nino took a line shot at goal, Kome’s shot went high and Nino, once again tried his luck, this time striking the crossbar. All in vain though. In the end the visiting supporters were much more elegant than those who were here on Thursday and, in spite of the defeat, they exchanged cries of encouragement, they applauded and even wore (plastic) bananas as scarves. This is much better. And whilst the difficult European appointment is just around the corner, the team seems to be getting the hang of the league at San Mamés. Let’s hope it lasts.