Athletic is preparing to resume the league competition. It will be on Sunday in San Mamés against Atlético de Madrid during aperitif hours (14 hours). After more than three months without playing a competition match -the last one was against Valladolid in Pucela on March 8 (1-4), just before the Government decreed the state of alarm-, the rojiblancos face the last eleven days of the regularity tournament with a single objective, to achieve a European place to play for the Old Continent next season. In this goes the team's sports prestige and also the club's economy, which would seriously suffer if this goal is not reached.
“I have made it very clear to the players what our goal is in these 11 games, to get into Europe. It is not easy, but I see this team capable of everything. The requirement here is maximum, that's how it has to be and I have put it to the players, ”he said. Gaizka Garitano. This is the general feel of the wardrobe. This has been stated by the players who have been able to express themselves through the telematic press conferences that have become so fashionable in this period of training closed to the press. “It is a maximum effort that must be given these months to reach the end of the season and achieve the goal of Europe,” said Unai Simón, a man who has won the title in the red and white goal based on good performances.
For this, it will be necessary to go back the five distance points that are with respect to the seventh position that Valenci currently occupiesto. All this in eleven games, with 33 at stake. The average of the last ten years to be seventh at the end of the regularity tournament is 56.4 points. Now Athletic, after disputed 27 days, adds 37, with what it would need 19 to reach these records.
It is an important sprint, but the rojiblanco team would do well to notice what it did last season with Gaizka Garitano on the bench after I relieved Eduardo Berizzo in December.
Then the rojiblancos achieved this score after six wins, one draw and four defeats. And curiously, the series began in Bilbao before the whole of the Cholo Simeone, the rival who visits San Mamés on Sunday. The lions gave a good account of the mattresses (2-0), thanks to the goals scored by Williams and Kenan Kodro in the final stretch of the game. Later, another two wins would come against Girona at home (1-2) and Levante at home (3-2) before losing on the visit to Getafe (1-0).
That ball to the crossbar …
The lions returned to the path of victory, beating Rayo at home (3-2). Then came the defeat at Bernabeú (3-0), the victory at Leganés (0-1), the draw with Alavés at Bilbao (1-1), the lost game at Valladolid (1-0), victory against Celta (3-1) and Sánchez Pizjuán's 2-0, with that ball to the crossbar of Iñigo Martínez with 1-0 on the scoreboard that could have been worth the European classification. It was not achieved, but the rojiblancos did a final league sprint that was worth seventh place. A good reference for what you expect from Sunday.