Monday, January 5, 2026, 7:31 p.m.
Amorebieta brought the curtain down on the first half of the season with an important victory in Las Llanas against Sestao River, in the Biscayan derby between relegated teams and contenders for a return to Primera RFEF. A duel that confirmed the different dynamics of the two teams. The green and black, in the midst of a negative spiral, and the blue, who continue struggling to find a regularity that will end up presenting them as candidates to fight for that promotion.
So far, the team led by Aitor Zulaika has not managed to sneak a single day into that noble area. It has been, rather, almost always on the lookout. But when he had the option to sneak into it, he failed. A situation that does not bother them too much, since they know that there is still a long and complicated road ahead.
The Zornotzarras want – and must – be in the play-off zone at the end of the season, but when they are not limping in Urritxe, they are doing so outside. Or the other way around. The dynamics at the start of the campaign made them almost impregnable in their own fiefdom, where only Real Unión managed to win on the first day. The counterpart was in their away games, in which they barely achieved any returns.
Now, the panorama has changed. In recent weeks, Amorebieta has turned the situation around, but it has gone too far. Urritxe is no longer a fortress and the team has shown mixed feelings. The Zornotzarras have not won against their fans since November 1. Since then, four home games, with three draws and one defeat, with the aggravating factor of having scored only one goal in those same four games.
Better outside
Fortunately for Aitor Zulaika’s team, they are making up for it with the good performance they are achieving away from home in this same period, to the point of winning in three of their last four trips (Deportivo Aragón, Eibar B and Sestao River). Nine points that support Amorebieta in that temperate zone of an increasingly compressed classification.
«Now I don’t want to give importance to whether we are close to the top or not, because it doesn’t help us. This is a very peculiar league, the fifth enters the play-off and the thirteenth can be relegated,” Aitor Zulaika launched after the victory achieved in Las Llanas. “I am focused on the team being better in the second round,” he added.
«It is true that we are being irregular, I say it because of the numbers. Away from home, it’s funny, but we are better because we are competing well. But at home we have to improve and get things right because we haven’t won in the last two months,” acknowledged the head of the Urritxe bench.
For Azpeitia, beating Sestao River, which closes the play-off zone, is important “not because the year started well or the first round finished well” but because “the team needed it and deserved it.” «It is a good victory because, faced with a blow like that of Mutilvera, we were able to turn it around. That was a tough defeat, but we have turned it around,” Zulaika congratulated himself.
