Athletic did not find a rival at its level in Espanyol. He was relentless and relentlessly thrashed the parakeets, who barely showed any signs of life throughout the match. The return after the league break has restored the tone of Valverde’s team, which transmits good vibes. The good news returns to San Mamés, where it is announced that Unai Simón is already putting on the gloves in Lezama after three months in the reserve after his operation.
4
Julen Agirrezabala, Unai Núñez, Dani Vivian, Yuri Berchiche (Adama Boiro, min. 62), Óscar De Marcos, Nico Williams (Álvaro Djaló, min. 72), Íñigo Ruíz de Galarreta (Beñat Prados, min. 62), Alex Berenguer (Unai Gómez, min. 77), Mikel Jauregizar, Iñaki Williams (Nico Serrano, min. 72) y Gorka Guruzeta
1
Joan García, Sergi Gómez, Brian Oliván, Omar El Hilali, Marash Kumbulla (Álvaro Tejero, min. 72), Carlos Romero (Pere Milla, min. 45), José Gragera (Leandro Cabrera, min. 45), Pol Lozano, Alex Král, Jofre Carreras (Irvin Cardona, min. 62) and Alejo Véliz (Walid Cheddira, min. 45)
Goals
1-0 min. 5: Daniel Vivian. 2-0 min. 27: Williams. 3-0 min. 29: Williams. 4-0 min. 54: Berenguer. 4-1 min. 91: Tejero
Referee Mateo Busquets Ferrer
yellow cards
Unai Núñez (min. 47), Yuri (min. 47), Pere Milla (min. 50), Cabrera (min. 73), Omar (min. 81)
When Athletic smells blood they are usually relentless, and they immediately detected Espanyol’s fear, retreating into their field from the beginning, timid in the face of a rival who unraveled their threads with a handful of blows. On a warm afternoon in Bilbao, the home footballers also set the atmosphere on fire with their attitude. The first goal came from a corner kick taken by Nico Williams and which landed heavily at the feet of Vivian, who on her return from playing with Spain had the pleasure of opening the scoring.
Athletic continued to be applied and Espanyol was timid, which only stretched when the red and whites took a break, although without doing any damage to the Bilbao defense, as always, with the lines very advanced.
Valverde’s team insisted and the goals came by decantation, the first after an excellent assist from Berenguer, who successfully played in the position of the injured Sancet, the control of Iñaki Williams to remain alone in front of Joan García and shoot viciously. Three minutes later they repeated the assist and goal scorer, after an action on the wing by Nico, whom El Hilali’s grabs and knocks could not stop. The play ended in his brother, who fired with enthusiasm, crossed, to put an almost unattainable distance on the scoreboard.
Manolo González made three changes at half-time to give his team more presence in the game, and Espanyol came out with a little more determination, because Athletic seemed to move at a slower pace, but the momentum lasted a few minutes, because the Bilbao residents returned to their usual cruising speed. Iñaki Williams anticipated what could happen with a wonderful action in which, after making a hat, he came up the wing to put a parallel cross that found no finisher. But shortly after, a cross from De Marcos from the same right side was met by Berenguer, brilliant throughout the game, dribbled past his rival and placed the ball next to the post to score Athletic’s fourth goal.
The difference on the scoreboard, and almost always in the game, served to tame the people of Bilbao. Valverde took the opportunity to rest several of his key men and the game went downhill, although Espanyol, more out of professional embarrassment than anything else, tried to harass the Agirrezabala area. He took the minor prize with Tejero’s free kick, already in injury time, to make up the result a little.
Related News :