Athletic Club - Málaga CF

Athletic Club 1 – Malaga 1


Athletic Club drew 1-1 against Malaga CF and was unable to overtake Getafe and Villarreal in the classification with just two matchdays left in the Liga. Toquero was first to score and Duda later equalized. Our players gave their all on the pitch, especially during the initial minutes of each period, but besides setting the game pace they lacked clarity and this is already their fifth consecutive match without winning (three draws and two defeats)

The remaining fixtures are difficult, but while there’s still a mathematical chance the team is going to continue fighting, not only because they have to, even if the final stretch of the season is hard, but for all the teams.
With regards to the match, the beginning has been rather vigorous, similar to those better afternoons, and also with a goal in favour so as to be able to play more relaxed against a rival that was gambling half a life and who left San Mamés with artificial respiration and, as in our case, has an arduous task ahead.

After threatening twice, Athletic scored in the minute 5. A deep pass from Iturraspe was well managed and better defined, between Munua’s legs, by Toquero. In spite of the 1-0 the team didn’t control the match as would be expected and Malaga, little by little, felt more secure on the field. First Valdo, in the front with everything in favour, and then Gámez with a line-drive into the hands of Iraizoz, clearly demonstrated that Malaga was still that rocky team that’s lately specialized in draws.

And the equalizer arrived in the minute 18. Until Sunday one of our team’s strong points was the defence in set plays, mainly corners, and as it turns out between Sunday and Wednesday our team has allowed three goals after so many corners. On this occasion Duda brought out his left and between get ready and stay still the ball went into the opposite upper 90.

The match began all over again and Athletic retook control of the operations. Llorente had the first opportunity after a drop pass from Toquero, but his shot-on-goal wasn’t strong enough and Munua made the save. Shortly after he shared a header with San Jose, later David Lopez finished off a cross from Toquero with a header but Munua was there as he was also there to deflect a potent right by Llorente. The initiative and the desire to win were only the patrimony of Athletic and that’s how things continued until the interval.

The panorama didn’t change much in the second half and Athletic Club came out enraged, with a lot of enthusiasm and, at times, the pace was frenetic. However, they lacked ideas on the attack and the heart applied to the task, and the aspiration of scoring the second goal sometimes didn’t hide more than impotence.

During the first quarter hour, the most newsworthy fact, Toquero and Caicedo’s shots on goal both went wide. The dance also began in the benches. Muniain replaced David Lopez in the 62 and Athletic, like a steam hammer, kept doing their thing. Pressure, pressure, fast ball recovery and getting the ball going on attack plays even faster, however, without tangible results. A shot by Susaeta from outside the area was parried off by Munua, who repeated the same action to a shot from Toquero.
Despite all this, the minutes were passing and the attempts to move further up were unstitching the team. In the Malaga rows, Baha entered for Caicedo and little by little the Andalusians felt more comfortable, considering the risk they ran of allowing a second goal. They were searching for theirs which would give them a vital win to keep them from relegation and although the remaining occasions to score have been theirs, neither Obinna on the half-turn, nor Valdo with a line-drive managed to unbalance the scale, but did undermine the team’s confidence, whereas the fan’s was already somewhat touched from Sunday.

Caparrós chose to first replace Iturraspe with De Marcos. Everything or nothing, while Muñiz gambled on reinforcing the midfield with Toribio in for Benachour, on the local’s side Etxeberria replaced a slightly injured Llorente and, in spite of the final offensive, the only thing worth mentioning is a shot-on-goal by Valdo, but wide, and a play that Malaga managed very badly in our area. Meanwhile, the European classification slipped away from our fingers and although it is a shame, it’s also true that, sometimes, only the heart is not enough.