Elche CF - Athletic Club

Athletic Club drew 0-0 with Elche CF at the Estadio Martinez Valero on Sunday afternoon. It was cagey, physical affair in which the hosts showed why they're such good form at the moment.

There were no clear chances in the first 15 minutes as both sides set to gain control and assert their dominance, with Athletic looking to create danger down the flanks.

Elche began to gain the upper hand as the half went on and they had several chances to take the lead, the most obvious of which was Unai Simon produce a fantastic full stretch save to deny Rafa Mir.

Shortly afterwards, the home fans protested loudly as the referee went to VAR to see if Dani Vivian had handled the ball in a duel with Mir, with the official instead giving Athletic a free-kick for a foul on the defender. The Lions struggled to find combine their rhythm against a well-drilled opponent.

At half-time, Ernesto Valverde brought on the Williams brothers as he looked to inject some more pace into Athletic's attack,

It remained an open game, but Elche started to pressing harder and spent more time in the Rojiblancos' half. However, when Athletic were able to break the hosts' dominance of the ball, we kept attempting to make in-roads down the wings.

On one occasion, with Unai Gómez now on the pitch for Oihan Sancet, Nico Williams made a good run from the left to the centre, passing to Iñaki, whose shot was blocked. Mikel Jauregizar struck from the rebound but his effort took a deflection off a leg and went out for a corner.

Elche had a string of chances leading into the closing stages but Simón and Aymeric Laporte put their bodies in the way to thwart the home side's attempts.

Alejandro Rego came off the bench with ten minutes to and gave the Lions some impetus in midfield, but with the exception of a great Alex Berenguer effort, Athletic didn't trouble Iñaki Peña.

Now it's time to regroup and focus on next Wednesday's massive Champions League clash against Qarabag FK at The Cathedral.