Alcoyano didn’t get their second straight win at the start of this season’s league. On this second day, he was overtaken by Barcelona Athlètic, who choked him and couldn’t find his way, who not only scored but also had options to dominate the game and win. The match was so close that a goalless draw could be considered fair. At the end of the match, even both teams agreed to this score.
The first half showed a long period of slow and grueling play, with too much play in the middle of the court and few dangerous arrivals on the fields. A first half with maximum equality in El Collao, but both teams managed to give the fans some encouragement.
In the 32nd minute, one of these flashes came when Juanan had the opportunity to break the tie by picking up a ball in the field, angling to the right from Alcoy’s offensive position, but his shot went beyond the goal.
From then on, and until the end of the first period, which was goalless, nothing has been more remarkable. After the break, the game started the same way. We had to wait four minutes to witness the first chance of the second half. This time it was the Barça subsidiary that scared the local fans, Roberto earned his back against the central defenders and finished the pitch in Bañuz’s presence, but the ball narrowly went wide.
Alcoy’s response came with a powerful and dangerous shot from Imanol’s goalkeeper Arnau Tenas in the 56th minute, which he barely saved in two halves. So the match started to get moving, but Vicente Parras’ plans went awry when Imanol had to leave in the 63rd minute due to injury. Coach had to make an unexpected change to bring in Koke Sáiz, at least at the time.
The game fell back in intensity at that time, until it reached the final episode where it revived. Both teams stepped up a bit more to a surprise in the final minutes, and Barça almost did it with Álex Carbonell’s crossbar-licking shot.
The referee added five minutes due to too much stoppage of the match. And in the last second of extra time, Alcoyano requested a penalty. The referee, who signaled the end of the match, did not look at the anger of the local fans who had to settle for a goalless draw.
DATA SHEET
ALCOYANO: Bañuz, Álvaro Vega, Raúl, Fran Miranda, Juanan, Agüero (Soler, 56′), Fran Valera (Raúl González, 56′), Lillo, Pablo Carbonell, Alcaina (Rubio, 56′), and Imanol.
BARCELONA B: Arnau Tenas, Chadi Riad, Marc Casadó (Fuentes, 66′), Roberto (Víctor Barberá, 83′), Estanis (Luismi Cruz, 66′), Nuñez, Txus Alba, Álex Carbonell, Pelayo (Diounkou, 76′) ), Valle and Llias Akhomach (Fabio, 76′).
TARGETS: There were none.
REFEREE: Manuel Ángel Pérez Hernández (Madrid School). Alcaina warned Chadi Riad and Víctor Barberá.
STADIUM: El Collao.