Much has been said about the Williams brothers in recent weeks, and it is not for less. The eldest, Iñaki, who had been in a drought for months, suddenly had the tap turned on and now it won’t stop. He scored against Osasuna in the Cup, then in Cornellá to give Athletic the victory and he did it twice to seal the Basque derby, full of passion as always, and which was won by the most determined team to do so. La Real did not come out so convinced, despite their better league classification, and ended up paying for it in the place that hurts the most: San Mamés.
2
Unai Simón, Yuri, Íñigo Martínez, Capa (Daniel Vivian, min. 61), Yeray, O. Sancet (Muniain, min. 78), Nico Williams, Dani García, Vesga, Williams (Ander Herrera, min. 89) and Guruzeta (Raúl García, min. 61)
0
Remiro, Aihen Muñoz, Gorosabel (Elustondo, min. 45), Le Normand, Zubeldia, Brais (Barrenetxea, min. 45), Merino, David Silva (Robert Navarro, min. 81), Martín Zubimendi, Take Kubo (Sörloth, min. 61) and Oyarzabal (Mohamed Ali-Cho, min. 60)
goals 1-0 min. 32:Williams. 2-0 min. 69:Williams.
Referee Cesar Soto Degree
Yellow cards Capa (min. 39), Dani García (min. 47), Guruzeta (min. 48), Zubeldia (min. 50), Le Normand (min. 65), Yeray (min. 80) and Daniel Vivian (min. 82 )
The only thing missing was the smudge of the eighties in a derby with a fang and sirimiri. Nobody hides their leg in the duel between Athletic and Real, although nobody took it for a walk more than necessary either. Valverde’s team, which intends to go back to the European positions, took the initiative from the beginning, with a pressure that managed to stifle the realistic start. Remiro threw several balls to the wing due to the impossibility of combining short with his centrals, and that local ferocity inflamed the stands, who always ask for intensity, although sometimes they receive no response.
With Vesga and Dani García, enormous, herding balls before Real crossed the divide, Athletic played in the San Sebastian field, although they did not come close to danger until minute 25, when in the umpteenth steal, Nico Williams, somewhat displaced, received to shoot. Remiro was able to deflect for a corner. The Navarrese goalkeeper had a job, who flew in after half an hour to neutralize Iñaki’s shot from outside the area.
But from that play was born Athletic’s goal in the subsequent corner kick, which Nico launched, Vesga combed and the eldest of the Williams, after missing the first control, finished off the second from very close, to rojiblanco revelry. Real had hardly responded until then, in which Silva multiplied to oxygenate his midfield. With that class that overwhelms him, he tried to play with one touch, but the Bilbao defense always found help in the axis to deactivate the arrivals of the txuriurdin.
Imanol wanted to change the script in the second part. He withdrew Gorosabel, overwhelmed by the Williams, and also Brais, who begins to suffer from altitude sickness and fades away where he shone a few months ago. The dutiful Aritz and the sparkling Barrenetxea came out in exchange. The San Sebastian team had a different air on the return, and had a double chance to tie, but Barrene and Kubo found themselves, in the same action, with the unreachable arms of Unai Simón.
Valverde also moved the bench to settle the game with the score in favor, and although Athletic allowed themselves to be loved in their field, they were on the lookout to kill the counter. He did it after Nico touched the ball to Raúl García, who in a brilliant maneuver crossed from left to right, where Iñaki received it. And, without much angle, he kicked the ball past Remiro. Another shot and another goal from the eldest of the Williams, who now makes what was so difficult before easy.
The game did not end with the score so favorable for Athletic, because Real was determined not to give up, although the people from Bilbao handled the situation. Only with the clock close to minute 90 was a shot by Cho able to close the score, which was once again repelled by Unai Simón, who gave a ball to Barrenetxea at discount time, whose shot went into the stands.
Athletic was the one that best handled all the situations of the match; he knew how to push when he should, and loosen up at the right times. That is why he had an exciting duel. He knew how to control passion.
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