Updated Monday, February 19, 2024 – 23:11
He Athletic He has dressed as the protagonist this season. He wants the Cup, he dreams of the Champions League and, in the process, he supported the Real Madrid in the lead, with six points ahead. San Mamés is his fortress and it was proven by a Girona victim of gross errors that he could not offset with goals despite maintaining faith and composure.
I was very clear Ernesto Valverde how to neutralize a team that is beginning to be less fearsome. Without ever giving up on their proposal, the rivals have found the Achilles heel of the revelation team just when their players are burdened by responsibility and are beginning to be more down-to-earth. Neither Savinho He is such an artist, nor Miguel Gutierrez a lethal weapon in attack or Dovbyk an indomitable tank. That’s when, even if it is the team that comes back the most in the League, mistakes pay dearly.
Athletic reminded him of this in the first breath of the game, when a throw-in complicated everything. In the download it appeared Alex to start the play with a horizontal pass to Arnau who caught a rogue Berenguer on the front to beat Gazzaniga with a tight shot to the post. If you give this Athletic, as surprising as Girona, the slightest advantage in San Mamés, they take advantage of it.
The impact of the blow to Girona, still without Míchel on the wing due to suspension, lasted and he was even able to receive more because Iñaki Williams He saw his moment. On the run he leaned on Unai Gómez to take a shot that, this time, Aleix García blocked. He did not give up and, before the 10th minute was up, he tried again without being able to properly hook the back pass that served him from the baseline. Chicken.
Without feeling comfortable, Girona tried to stretch and Tsygankov He forced Unai Simón to take out a hand to save the tie. But this occasion was a mirage that soon went out because Athletic, with speed and high pressure, were suffocating the Catalan team, which I didn’t have a second to think about what to do with the ball. and it shook every time the eldest Williams started. He faked but didn’t do any damage because he hit the post with the opportunity to increase the lead.
The party did not give a truce and if Yangel Herrera had the tie, again Iñaki headed a Yuri cross into the goalkeeper’s body on the stroke of half-time. Leaving Girona alive could be risky and upon returning from the locker room it was proven.
Míchel reorganized his team and began to be recognizable. So much so that Tsygankov He achieved the tie by saving a center from Iván Martín. The most difficult thing seemed to be done and now all they had to do was sleep through a duel that Athletic was still determined to drive crazy. Impossible because Girona continued to make mistakes as soon as they felt the encouragement of their rivals.
This time it was Miguel Gutierrez who hesitated surrounded by red and white, wanted to go out with a backheel and but Guruceta beat him to give Berenguer his second goal. The mental slab seemed to increase when Iñaki Williams landed a very long pass from Yeray behind the defense to score the third with a carom off the post. He sought the fourth by taking advantage of a mistake by Gazzaniga that the goalkeeper corrected.
There is no suffering that blurs Girona, which is why it is capable of winning games that seem doomed. That was what he tried in San Mamés when he reduced the score Eric Garcia heading the free kick that Aleix García took at will at the far post. The indisposition of a fan in the stands cooled the Catalan reaction, which came close and had its best chance in added time, first with a hit from Savinho that Simón came out to cover and, with the pot empty, with a missile of Solis which Vivian saved with her face on the same goal line. It was not possible to avoid a third game without victory.
2024-02-19 22:11:14
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