He Athletic Club expired (1-3) al Real Valladolid this Friday at the start of matchday 26 of LaLiga Santander, three points to raise their chances of reaching European positions and getting out of a losing streak, while the Pucelanos watch the relegation closely.
Ernesto Valverde’s men broke a run of four games without winning and three without scoring a goal, with the special resentment of the last clash against FC Barcelona. The Basque team turned the page on the siege of the leader without a prize at the expense of a Valladolid that found itself with options for four minutes with Larin’s 1-2 draw.
Íñigo Martínez celebrated his call from the Spanish team this same Friday opening the can with his first goal of the season. The center-back asked for a direct free kick after half an hour that he hit Óscar Plano and went inside in the 0-1 draw for the Basques. Athletic was already dominating then, despite a good start by the locals with a double chance from Kike Pérez and another from Larin.
The Williams gangs gave a lot of work to a Valladolid that had a hard time finding themselves after the goal. As if that were not enough, Athletic exhibited an almost forgotten strike shortly after the restart with the 0-2 score by Guruzeta on a good pass from De Marcos. The entry of Álvaro Aguado and Sergio León redoubled the bet of the locals, but did not finish giving the arrival that was missing.
Those of Pacheta seemed to sign the surrender when Manu Pozo made his debut. The youth squad player came in like a rocket and had the opportunity in his first action, also starring in Larin’s goal to wake up José Zorrilla. The Canadian, in his fifth goal since his arrival in January, gave hope but only lasted four minutes.
In a cross by Nico Williams, Joaquín’s hand led Alberola Rojas to award a penalty without hesitation. A jug of cold water that silenced the stadium, except for the ‘lions’ corner that celebrated Vesga’s 1-3 and three points to go calmly to the national team break. Quite the opposite of a Valladolid team that could fall into the relegation zone this weekend, with a victory in the last six games and with Real Madrid as their next rival.
Datasheet
1- Real Valladolid: Asenjo; Fresneda, El Yamiq (Joaquín, m.46), Javi Sánchez, Escudero (Pozo, m.77); Monchu, Kike Pérez (Aguado, m.58); Silver, Iván Sánchez (Sergio León, m.58), Plano (Olaza, m.71); Larin.
3- Athletic Club: Counts it; De Marcos, Yeray, Inigo Martinez, Yuri (Balenziaga, m.90+); Vesga, Dani Garcia; Nico Williams (Zagarra, m.90+), Sancet (Muniain, m.82), Iñaki Wiiliams (Raul Garcia, m.82); Guruzeta (Berenguer, m.75)
goals: 0-1 (m.29): Iñigo Martínez. 0-2 (m.56): Guruzeta. 1-2 (m.73): Larin. 1-3 (m.77): Vesga, penalty.
Referee: Javier Alberola Rojas (Castilian-Manchego Committee). He showed yellow cards to Javi Sánchez (m.5), Larin (m.88), from Real Valladolid and Yuri (m.23), Vesga (m.90), from Athletic Club.
incidences: Match corresponding to the twenty-sixth day of LaLiga Santander, played at the José Zorrilla stadium. The players took to the field of play carrying a banner with the motto “if we are all, we all win”, as part of the “Unity” campaign against racism, and they wore a shirt with the colors of said campaign.
