Athletic remain hopeful of victory against Mallorca but worried about Williams

Yuri’s second and third goals so far this season ‘The tenth of Gurugol, Finishing ninth in the league gave Athletic their sixth consecutive victory in the regular championship in San Mamés and their eighth if we include the Copa del Rey victory they also solved in that division at ‘La Catedral’.

Set with these three points Ernesto Valverde It remains in fifth place, just two points behind the third and fourth places of Atlético de Madrid and FC Barcelona, ​​and awaits the end of the 23rd matchday. Sixth Real Sociedad once again moved them provisionally nine points clear.

Moreover, this result encourages the Basque team. We are facing the first leg of the semi-finals Copa del Rey They will face Atletico at Civitas Metropolitano on Wednesday.

Hard blow to Mallorca

For Mallorca, the defeat causes them to move closer to the relegation zone throughout the day, and they continue from there with four points and three places. And it is assumed a hard emotional blow They will also face each other in the cup semi-final, which starts with the first leg against Real in Son Moix on Tuesday.

On the way out, Valverde gave Vivian a rest. He kept Yeray at 11, increased Paredes to 11He showed confidence in three defenders; Aguirre also gave up on Sergi Darder and settled on Larin in attack against Muriqi and Abdón Prats.

Yuri’s first goal

It was not possible to know whether the Mexican player’s plan was correct or not, because Athletic took the lead in the scoreboard in the 3rd minute and they almost turned the match in their favor with two goals scored by Yuri from set pieces in the 16th minute. Nico Williams.

The first was finished by Yuri with his back to goal and with a ‘spoon’ after a foul by Valjent on his brother Iñaki; Secondly, the corner had valuable cooperation from Guruzeta; He also played spurs, allowing Yuri to place the ball into the corner with his right foot.

Two rare shots from a goal-scoring left backAlthough, with the shootout, they left the match very competitive in favor of the local fans, with many red players coming in despite the superiority of the red-whites. An easy header from Simón de Valjient and two high shots from Mascarell and Antonio Sánchez was what Mallorca got after a good game that Bilbao put behind by a shot.

And it could have been even worse for the Balearic Islands, seeing as how Rajkovic was unable to cope with Yuri’s odd shots. He avoided making it 3-0 on another almost equally difficult possession in the 32nd minute.

Guruzeta’s tenth goal

Although it is a classic game in San Mamés. A perfect cross from the right by De Marcos. An even better header from Guruzeta deserved to make it 3-0 and the Serbian goalkeeper’s tremendous hand, which added even more shine to the game.

The red-whites’ third goal did not come in that match, and in the next match it looked like Figueroa Vázquez would come with a penalty decision due to Nico’s slide in the area. VAR stepped in to correct the error and prevented the obvious mistake.

Iñaki Williams’ deflected shot was the last thing of note in what was clearly a domestic first half, both on the scoreboard and in the game.

On the way back from the locker room HE Athletic He threatened again after Raíllo slid off the front edge. Nico took the ball but Valjent came and turned his shot for a corner.

This game opened the tap on the siege of Bilbao, which chained four successive chances in two minutes. Two more shots from Williams and Sancet went into the corner a header from the opposition defence, Galarreta’s header against Yeray’s post following a corner kick, and Iñaki’s one-on-one header against Rajkovic, Williams’ biggest, Guruzeta finishing with a spectacular pass to the goalkeeper’s body. He remembered the bad afternoons. . .

Athletic missed several chances in a row and were about to pay the price for it, because once on the field Nacho Vidal single-handedly finished the corner taken by Dani Rodríguez, although it was placed in the hands of a well-built Simón.

Mallorca could not take advantage of this great opportunity Athletic no longer forgave. Because in a counter attack well managed by Nico Williams, Guruzeta achieved the score 3-0 and received the reward of his great game. Nico opened his brother, Iñaki crossed, Sancet missed the shot attempt and Guru headed the ball into the net as the ‘9’ should with his cane at the far post. At first the offside signal was given, but VAR evaluated the decision and confirmed the goal.

Shortly after taking the field, Muniain put Cherry on top with his last goal in the 89th minute. The captain finished the cross from the right by co-captain De Marcos as he wanted.