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Against a brave Valencia, full of youngsters who are beginning to be adequately prepared, Athletic salvaged a point in the 97th minute after a game in which they looked uncomfortable from start to finish. He never found his good side.
2
Unai Simón, Daniel Vivian, Aitor Paredes (Benat Prados, Min. 65), De Marcos, Imanol Garcia, O. Sancet (Muniain, Min. 72), Ruiz de Galarreta, Nico Williams (Berenguer, Min. 69), Dani García (Vesga, Min. 65), Williams and Guruzeta (Villalibre, Min. 69)
2
Mamardashvili, Thierry Correia, Gayá, Cristhian Ibarguen, Gabriel Paulista, Selim Amallah (Sergi Canos, min. 58), Pepelu, Francisco Martinez (Foulquier, min. 73), Javi Guerra, Hugo Duro (Yaremchuk, min. 78) and Diego López (Hugo Guillamón, min. 73)
Goals 1-0 min. 31: From Markus. 1-1 min 62: Francisco Martinez. 1-2 min 68: Hugo Duro. 2-2 min 97: Berenguer.
referee Jorge Figueroa Vazquez
Yellow cards Aitor Paredes (min. 11), Dani García (min. 54), Selim Amallah (min. 56) and Ruiz de Galarreta (min. 86)
Valverde’s team suffered in the first half against a bitter rival who won many duels and caused too many errors for the red and white team. Baraja’s team put pressure on them at the start and approached Unai Simón sensibly. Before the first quarter of an hour, the cathedral shook a few times. It was difficult for the Bilbao team to find continuity in their game, although at times some red and white players appeared to test Mamardashvili, such as Iñaki Williams, who was looking for a place to play on the edge of the penalty area to shoot across the goal for the top corner, although the goalkeeper’s glove appeared to deflect into the corner.
Athletic calmed down as the first half progressed and got closer and closer to the goal. Iñaki stood in front of the Georgian goalkeeper, who blocked his shot in the lead-up to the goal. It was Nico Williams, shifted to the right, who filtered the ball to De Marcos, who was unrecognizable in his appearances, who shot hard between Mamardashvili’s legs to open the deadlock.
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Valencia reacted angrily and pushed Athletic towards their field. He managed to equalize on two dangerous passes, but Unai Simón popped up to first block Hugo Duro’s close-range shot and then stick the toe of his boot into a shot from Amallah, who had slipped between the central defenders and who took it caught him. On the contrary, although Athletic tried to fend off the counterattack while Valencia were in the lead, errors in releasing the ball meant they had to continue fighting until half-time and beyond, as the break did not faze the dazed Athletic, who went into the Valencia penalty area with fits came, although Dani García forced Mamardashvili to fly from stick to stick to deflect his shot onto the crossbar.
Valencia were so insistent that after a red-white defeat they launched a counter-attack, with Fran Pérez rising to equalize against Unai. Five minutes later he had already turned the game around when Fran Pérez once again played the leading role, passing the ball to Hugo Duro at the Point of Candy. In desperation and with the tee shot almost completed, Iñaki Williams already launched a curled ball that Berenguer headed to save a point.
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