It's hard to believe what Athletic and the world itself have been able to change from March 8 to November 8! Everything, of course, with the new Zorrilla as a reference. Eight months after that 1-4 with the public in the stands, the lions returned to pay another league visit yesterday to the Valladolid stadium. Nothing was the same. Not the result, not the animation in the stands, not even the weather.
The ravages of the coronavirus are well known in any corner of the planet. The soccer ills of the Bilbao team also begin to cross the Biscayan border. The team of Garitano it doesn't work, especially far from San Mamés.
The rojiblanco coach is increasingly questioned and his pupils are not able to return to the right path either. Consecutive losses away from home against Alavés, Osasuna and bottom Valladolid. What happened yesterday in the rainy Pucelana day was just another one.
We will surely hear again that “we are one of the teams in the League with the greatest possession of the ball” and the one with “fewer chances to score.” Pure and hard statistics that only serve to fatten the ego, but not to score points in the League. The lions also continue to shoot themselves in the foot every time they have to pack.
Yesterday it was the turn of Unai
Simon. The international goalkeeper paved the way to victory for the needed troop of Sergio with bad ball control that forced him to commit a penalty just after the first quarter of an hour of play. Garitano He puts on a circus, seen what he has seen, and the dwarfs grow.
Valladolid, with its president Ronaldo 'The fat man', having said this with all the affection in the world, in the box he ate some lions that were disheveled without heads, ideas, or killer instincts. His offensive proposal leaves much to be desired. The tests carried out by the starting coach, too.
The albivioletas knew how to swim and put away their clothes. Theirs this time was not the typical exercise of swimming, swimming and swimming to drown on the shore. Unlike. They were in place from start to finish.
Detail of Nacho stomping on the penalty spot before Williams the execution of the maximum penalty in favor of Athletic speaks clearly of their degree of involvement. It rained in Valladolid, it poured in Bilbao.