Direct Chronicle
After a lucky and somewhat lucky start, Real’s fortunes changed as the minutes went by and he had no choice but to review all the chapters of his resistance manual. He scratched a tie, a real sweetheart against a hungry Valencia but with an empty fridge.
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Le Normand, Elustondo, Diego Rico, Illarramendi (Gorosabel, min. 45), Remiro, Merino (Ander Guevara, min. 82), Brais (Jon Pacheco, min. 45), Martín Zubimendi, Sörloth, Zubeldia and Carlos Fernández (Jon Magunacelaya, minute 45)
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Samuel Lino, Eray Cömert, Marcos André (Hugo Duro, min. 61), Gayá, Yunus Musah (Foulquier, min. 74), Andre Almeida, Mamardashvili, Gabriel Paulista (Cenk Özkacar, min. 29), Thierry Correia, Justin Kluivert (Samu Castillejo, min. 74) and Hugo Guillamón (Nico González, min. 61)
Gates 1-0 min 10: Hugo Guillamón (p). 1-1 min. 24: Samuel Linen.
referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero
Yellow cards Diego Rico (min. 7) and Martín Zubimendi (min. 90)
Red cards Elustondo (min. 16)
The football hadn’t progressed beyond a futile touch when Thierry’s heels slipped out of his shoes on a seemingly harmless dismount of the ball. The slip left a wide corridor for Illarramendi, who came into the box with a parallel cross and Hugo Guillamón, who hails from San Sebastián but does not play for Real, punched his team-mate Mamardashvili in his attempt to clear.
With little left to do, the sky opened up for Imanol’s team, who took the game onto his turf until five minutes later, when Aritz Elustondo misjudged a cross with Lino, digging his boot into his ankle. After a long visit to VAR, Munuera sent off the Real player who was down one for the next 75 minutes. The hodgepodge was exploited by Valencia, who went forward and it wasn’t long before he equalized with a shot from Lino from the edge of the box. Up to that moment, the group led by Gattuso had tried to knead the ball near the area, but without yeast the dough would not grow. While Guillamón pondered the mistake in Real’s goal and failed more than necessary, Valencia played handball on the verge of passive. When Lino found the crack, it seemed like the group would inexorably tip over to the Valencian side.
The bewilderment of the minutes that followed could have hurt Real, but with indestructible mental strength, with the stands behind him, fingernails in the refereeing decisions, he took it as best he could until the break to calm things down, take the appropriate ones instructions and tighten the nuts. Imanol has taken the appropriate measures to prevent water leakage and reduce intrusion. Given the results, the realistic technician did it perfectly. He made three changes in the second half. He removed a striker, reinforced midfield and placed sandbags in defence, while Gattuso sent his men up front, although he found himself with very tight lines, few spaces and a wall in front of Remiro, whom he could barely force. Real had the best chance with an action by Magunacelaya, which Sorloth completed on the crossbar. Valencia had just one, in a quick free-kick that caught the local defense unaware. Marcos André shot just wide of the post.
The Real no longer allowed mistakes, firmly in their defensive positions. He survived the downpour, which was more of an autumnal Sirimiri, and scored a point. More than one could expect played inferior from the first quarter of an hour. Imanol’s resistance manual worked.
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