Athletic golea to achieve the first victory of the preseason

Athletic has achieved in Gütersloh the first victory of the preseason with a win. The rojiblancos had the effectiveness in the second half that they lacked in the first to defeat Bochum, a team from the Bundesliga, 1-4, thanks to goals scored by Raúl García, Asier Villalibre twice and Iñaki Williams.

As happened last Sunday against Borussia Mönchengladbach, Ernesto Valverde presented a fairly powerful eleven against Bochum, another level rival who finished in thirteenth position last season on his return to the Bundesliga.

The coach from Gasteiz has made Iñigo Martínez make his pre-season debut, who did not play against the Rhinelanders or against Duisburg for having started the pre-season later due to his participation in the Nations League with Luis Enrique’s team. In this way, any doubts about his physical discomfort after exercising alone on Tuesday as a precaution were cleared up.

The eleven of the first half has been formed by Julen Agirrezabala; De Marcos, Yeray, Iñigo Martínez and Yuri Berchiche in defense; Sancet and Mikel Vesga ahead and Berenguer, Muniain, Adu Ares and Gorka Guruzeta as more advanced men. The striker from San Sebastian also played his first game after returning to Athletic after passing through Sabadell and Amorebieta.

Txingurri opted to place Sancet in midfield alongside Mikel Vesga. It is the position in which he played before Marcelino placed him as a striker.

The red-and-white team deserved a better result before the break, above all due to the good number of wasted chances. The lions had up to four opportunities with a very active Berenguer in the attacking front. The Navarrese was the best lion before passing through the changing rooms.

The first was Guruzeta, with a ball filtered by the former Torino player. The striker’s shot was parried by the Bochum goalkeeper with his left foot. The German team’s first shot came in the 9th minute. The giant Ganvoula sent the ball into the hands of Agirrezabala. Those led by Thomas Reis showed a better performance than the one exhibited last Sunday by Gladbach.

Berenguer had the best chance of the first half three minutes later. The Navarrese took advantage of a great long pass from Iñigo Martínez to stand alone against goalkeeper Esser, but his shot went wide.

Adu Ares, who made his debut with the first team, sent a high ball in the 18th minute and shortly after De Marcos had it with a shot from the right wing that went wide. An error in the pass when taking out the played ball caused a new cross shot from the Bochum ‘tank’ and when the game was approaching the last minutes of the first half Berenguer had the opportunity to overtake the lions with the same mouth the Gol. The Navarrese failed again, but without a doubt he was the best. The game went to rest unfairly tied.

Valverde changed his entire team in the second half with some significant data. Dani García was going to act as central defender with Nolaskoain in midfield. The team in the second forty-five minutes was formed by Alex Padilla in goal; Ander Capa, Vivian, Dani García and Lekue in defense; Winner and Nolaskoain in the engine room, Iñaki Williams on the right wing of the attack, Raúl García on the hook, Luis Bilbao on the left and Villalibre on the striker.

Txingurri was forced to make a substitution as soon as he started. Nolaskoain was injured and Aitor Paredes replaced him. The youth squad was placed in central and Dani García moved to midfield. Valverde was unable to see Zumarraga’s defender, the most significant test yesterday afternoon in Gütersloh along with that of Williams’ elder on the right wing of the attack.

As soon as it started, Luis Bilbao had a good chance, but the one who went ahead was Bochum due to a red-and-white error when it came to getting the ball. Ganvoula entered the left wing and his pass to the area was finished off by Zoller to Alex Padilla’s nets.

It didn’t take long for Athletic to react thanks to a brilliant act by Raúl García. Athletic’s ’22’ dribbled the ball over the goalkeeper. The ball entered after hitting the crossbar and the post. 1-1 in the 65th minute.

The locals had the opportunity to take the lead with another shot by Iñaki Williams that the goalkeeper found after a pass from the right by Ander Capa.

Already in the final stretch of the match came the second Bilbao goal. Luis Bilbao leaked a good inside pass for Asier Villalibre. The striker solved magnificently with his left foot. Shortly after, the third came with a shot from Williams and Gernika made the sentence with a play very similar to their first goal, but this time they beat the German team’s goalkeeper low. You can’t ask for more to be the third preseason game.