REAL SOCIEDAD 1 – ATHLETIC 1 Unai Simón frustrates the rematch

The end of yesterday's bland derby, pasty like a fresh cement puree, I could go into a madhouse. For lack of spark, the metas went to karaoke to sing and spice up the night. Two errors by the goalkeepers, decorative figures from the final on Saturday until yesterday's pulse at the Reale Arena, made the operator who keeps the scoreboard work.

First Remiro was petrified in the goal line in a poisoned center of Berenguer with the right that Villalibre finished off after beating Zubimendi with a head. What can a 'Buffalo' do to be allowed to run longer through the green savannah to score goals? His trumpet is always in tune. And in the final sip, embarrassing action came. Roberto López gave a center kick with a lot of thread that was poisoning and Unai Simón, thinking that he was going out, stretched his arms but ultimately shrunk them and he swallowed a goal for the squad that puts the head of the National Team in a very bad place. He already screwed up with La Roja for a crazy outing and now this … he must reconsider.

A crazy final in a match with very little substance, as tactically corseted and boring as the Cup final, two very pedestrian derbies. The changes changed the sad picture. Januzaj, López and Portu provided spark and play on the inside, while Capa and Balenziaga opened their sights on the visitors.

To begin with, Marcelino ratified the same eleven from La Cartuja. Above all, insist, put the eleven in the position of showing that it was a bad day at the office, because possibly they would have to be the most rabid of the group, no one more eager to make up. They are the ones who had to endure the hall to the champion. And the truth is that vigor, high pressure and intensity came out, but his football is no longer for those trots that took him in flight in January. La Real immediately took off that domain and took the commitment to her bag, like an owl in its olive tree. Marcelino changed, but for the worse, because his team played short, slow and horizontal, something very contrary to García Toral's creed. If the Asturian coach is distinguished by vertigo, verticality, stealing and being in the area without thinking twice … this time it led to the little touch, the patatero roll through the central strip and being a piece of cake for the rival. And that film is a tostón, for this Berizzo and his insipid touch football were already there.

In games and a half both teams trampled by vulgarity those great derbies of yesteryear that even supposed titles. Many looked at these last two appointments to the pulse in the goals, the Unai Simón-Remiro and in 135 minutes nobody stained their gloves, only Íñigo Martínez in a distant shot in La Cartuja. Remiro has been seen more in the teasing on the contrary in the cup celebration than in the flying popcorn in these derbies. Carlos Fernández had a little occasion in 42 in an unbalanced shot in which he gave him very badly and there was also a carom on Yuri's shoulder in his own area that Simón saved without problem. Marcelino wanted intensity and he had it in the form of fouls: 1-9 near half-time.

In the absence of fluidity in the game, there is always the Williams shortcut. The bad thing is that his confidence is on the ground, he does not face, he does not challenge the opponents, and on top of that his centers and shots went to La Concha. Both teams lacked depth. La Real finished the first half better and the lions started the second with an air of superiority, arriving more times and more continuously, but without clarity of ideas.

Of course, Real Sociedad and Athletic have not recruited fans to the Basque derbies with these latest installments. They have been well planted in the field but with zero spark. Berenguer had the best chance in the 55th, after taking off his mark with class and shooting, but the ball hit the tip of Le Normand's boot and went wide. In the roulette of changes to bring in fresh people, it was seen that the brightness was more in the benches than in those that have supported the weight of these two appointments so closely together. Balenziaga, for example, contributed in one breath more than Yuri in these four days. Or Portu, who reactivated Real and made him gain meters. As soon as he left, he had a very good opportunity, masterfully interpreting the spaces. He is one of the best in the world, timing just enough time to break through the gap without falling offside. The changes gave much more to the local side, of course. It's funny, Imanol went from having two nines to leaving none, moving around with wasps in the area without a reference. Roberto López, Portu and Januzaj, three of the replacements, touched 1-0 in the 78th minute. The Belgian is pure magic, he hides the ball and hits it with the precision of a sorcerer. The game was getting long. And the final insanity arrived.

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Marcelino: “We have resembled what we believe”

The Athletic Bilbao coach, Marcelino García Toral, was very satisfied with the draw in San Sebastián (1-1) after the disappointment in the Copa del Rey final and believes that his team took this Wednesday “a step forward.” “The best thing has been the reaction we have had because it was not easy to play this game due to the enormous disappointment since Saturday and playing against the rival who beat us. I am proud of the attitude of the team,” said the Asturian coach. Toral understands that after a “recent” upset his team gave “a positive response” and stressed that Athletic “deserved to win” the match and “it is not far from a good competitive level.”

“There has been very good dynamics, daring … we have resembled what we believe in and it is the right way to demonstrate our potential“, Toral emphasized. He regretted the goal of Real and, on whether Unai Simón could have done something else to avoid Roberto López's goal, he was blunt in assuring that”Today there have been very positive things for us and I don't want to waste time on that“.” The two games against Real have been very close. The other day he lost due to a penalty and today we have already seen how it has been“said the Athletic coach, upset because” in a simple action we lost two points. “

Sheriff: “In the final minutes it was closer to 1-0 than 0-1”

The Real Sociedad coach, Imanol Alguacil, valued the point obtained in a derby that “It was not easy” for them or for Athletic “after so many emotions from the Cup.”

Bailiff saw a match “matched and different from that of the final, in which they chose to repeat equipment to try to wash the image and we refresh it “and he was convinced that “In the final minutes it was closer to 1-0 than 0-1.”

The casualties that plague the team worry Alguacil, who recalled that his squad “has played a very demanding Europa League as wellAnd it's two years at an extraordinary level, in European positions, which is physically and mentally demanding. “

He doesn't want absences to be an excuse for the final stretch of the season because “There is also the subsidiary and in the nine games that remain this team is going to give up its life to enter Europe, whoever we are, “he said.

He rated the point of “good, although you have to do it very good next Sunday” and publicly recognized the performance of his forward Adnan Januzaj, the best player of the match.

“I'm very happy for him. Janu did not play in the final and he was warming up for 45 minutes, today he was on the bench and he started the way I like.“The coach from San Sebastian praised the Belgian, who predicted a” tremendous marathon of matches “for which he sees his team prepared.

He also ruled on the next Cup final between Barcelona and Athletic, He acknowledged that if the Catalans win it, seventh place would also qualify for Europe, which would benefit Real, but he wanted “the best to play it and win it.”

The coach spoke about the mariachis who waited for the Athletic expedition at their concentration hotel prior to the match: “It is a minority, the fans of Real Sociedad is not that. I think the mariachis are ugly. Athletic Club did not deserve that.. The behavior has been exemplary, both before and after. “