Athletic's inspiration strips Alavés

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Athletic continues its streak in San Mamés, without losing since August against Real Madrid, its next rival;

giving joy to his fans and accumulating good feelings for the Cup final to which thousands of people signed up, who finished the match waving their scarves shouting, “To Seville, oe!”

Three more points for the people of Bilbao, who are in the Champions League zone, even if only provisionally.

ATHathletic

2

Unai Simón, Daniel Vivian, De Marcos, Lekue, Yeray, Williams, Benat Prados (Dani García, min. 69), Nico Williams (Berenguer, min. 77), Ruiz de Galarreta (Vesga, min. 81), Unai Gómez and Guruzeta (Raúl García, min. 77)

ALA Alaves

0

Sivera, Abdel Abqar, Rafa Marín, Gorosabel (Nahuel Tenaglia, min. 76), Javi López, Carlos Vicente, Luis Rioja (Ianis Hagi, min. 58), Ander Guevara (Carlos Benavídez, min. 69), Guridi (Kike García , min. 58), Antonio Blanco and Samu Omorodion

Goals

1-0 min.

31: Guruzeta.

2-0 min.

36: Guruzeta.

Referee

Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz

Yellow cards Nico Williams (min. 53), Carlos Benavídez (min. 79), Abdel Abqar (min. 86) and Antonio Blanco (min. 91)

And it all started because Unai Simón unleashed the fury.

It is not usually the goalkeeper of a team who catalyzes the others, but this time it is.

Half an hour into the game, Nico Williams, not very skilled in defensive tasks, committed a penalty on Gorosabel, his theoretical watchman, the birds shooting at the shotguns.

Luis Rioja launched it and Unai, perhaps celebrating one more call-up with Spain, threw himself to the left of him and rejected it.

The ball remained alive, and in the penultimate instance it reached Nico, who redeemed himself with a pass from the baseline so that Guruzeta shot Sivera.

In the midst of a maelstrom, just three minutes later, Iñaki Williams wanted to control a long ball from Yeray, before Sivera came out, it went to one side, but Guruzeta appeared there again, to push into an empty goal from the edge of the area .

The goal passed the VAR filter because there was a raised flag, but it ended up in the account of the red and white striker, who has already had 13 in the League.

More information

Athletic reactivates its candidacy for the Champions League

Alavés had started very well, blocking the red-and-white supply routes and generating a very good chance with a ball that Samu extended with a header, Carlos drove and Guridi finished from very close range.

Unai Simón found himself with the ball between his feet.

Then the penalty, Unai's save, an unleashed Athletic, the two goals in a row and the adrenaline rush in the stands, where almost a thousand Alavés fans watched in disbelief at what was happening to their team.

What had they done to deserve such punishment.

But that is the Athletic that plays in this League, a team that, in moments of inspiration, strips its rivals naked in San Mamés without them barely realizing it.

The enormous work of Galarreta and Prados in the central circle was wearing down the Alavés midfielders, who lost the dynamism of the beginning, and were ceding all the initiative to Athletic, who took it with pleasure.

In the second half, Valverde's team played solidly, without rushing and always looking for the best options.

He forgot the gallop for a few minutes and preferred the trot, but that was already going well for him, because he found no opposition in front of him.

He drew up the passing lines, combined and got close to the Alavés area, which never once came close to Unai Simón's domain, except in the final minutes when the changes threw the football out of control.

But not even because of that could the Vitorian team create danger against a defense led by Vivian, which justified his presence in the next matches of the Spanish team.

The best chances of the second quarter were for Athletic, especially in a double shot by Iñaki Williams and Munian when the game was waning.

Everything works in Valverde's Athletic, and even fortune appears in moments when the legs do not respond.

The people of Bilbao have not taken a break, nor do they seem to be thinking about the Cup final at the moment, which is three weeks away, but which no one is talking about in the locker room.

The Alavés team left for Vitoria with the satisfaction of having played a good half hour, until they discovered that Athletic had stripped them naked.

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