Amorebieta is fed up. Tired of what he understands is an excessive and shameless succession of errors and controversial decisions against him that invite him to think about something else. Haritz Mujika exploded in the press room of the Gran Canaria Stadium after seeing how García Verdura was once again the protagonist and annulled the equalizer due to a non-existent positional offside. It was one more chapter in the already long history that the zornotzarras have accumulated this season, that of their historic debut in LaLiga SmartBank, which beyond the team’s own sporting progression is being marked by a succession of events that, in one way or another another, they have been undermining their morale and, especially, weighing them down on the table.
“We are already used to this,” Mujika resigned himself last Saturday full of arguments. Despite his outburst, he bit his tongue. He was forceful, he banged on the table and publicly verbalized the anger that there is in all levels of the club in this regard. The problems come from afar. Sports and non-sports. Since the ‘viverazo’, that trap that Urritxe’s men blew up unexpectedly, the obstacles that have been found are many.
The first was the fact that Amorebieta cannot play their matches at home, in Urritxe. A stadium that is used for the Cup but is ‘not suitable’ for LaLiga. Even its natural grass did not meet the standards of the competition organizers and had to be raised. This first decision, expected on the other hand given the particularities of the Zornotzarra fiefdom, forced the Blues to have to move and play on loan in Lezama.
Once the competition had already started, Amorebieta, an unexpected guest at the Second Division party, soon began to make it clear that despite being a humble club with few resources (lowest budget in the category), with a reduced social mass ( little more than 1,200 members) and hardly any repercussions outside of Bizkaia, something evident from all of the above, it had come to stay. Or at least to fight with solid wickerwork for permanence.
The ‘string’ of controversy
The disagreements of the blues with the arbitration group began soon. And precisely before one of the roosters in the category. On matchday seven, in the derby against Eibar, Iglesias Villanueva showed how ‘easy’ it was to whistle Amorebieta, signaling two very rigorous penalties in favor of the gunsmiths. But not only that, but he left the blues with one less player in another set that was less controversial. But above all grotesque. He showed the second yellow card at first to Larruzea, who had not even taken part in the action. The VAR corrected him and then booked, also for the second time, Oier Luengo. The bloodiest thing is that the pigtail did it by interpreting that he was cutting off a promising attack, as stated in the minutes. A questionable wording since the Eibar player was surrounded by up to three Amorebieta defenders and had not yet passed the halfway line. The derby ended 1-1.
A couple of weeks later, during the Biscayans’ visit to the Heliodoro, Amorebieta ran into García Verdura for the first time. A name they will not forget. Tenerife ended up winning that game (2-1) largely due to the Catalan’s decisions. The chicharreros’ first goal came after a jump by Elady on Irazabal’s back that could well have been interpreted as a foul by the attacker. The referee was also the protagonist in the second local goal, the result of a very controversial penalty in which he interpreted that Irazabal himself raised his leg excessively and connected with his foot on Mollejo’s head. The television images contradicted him, but he kept going.
On matchday 11, it was the Amorebieta players who asked Hernández Maeso for a penalty for hands in the area at the start of the second half of the Fuenlabrada-Amorebieta match. A set that was overlooked and that could have ended up decanting a clash that ended goalless.
In the next outing for the Blues, this time to El Alcoraz, they were immersed again in another of those surreal situations that ended up being decided on the other side. With 0-0 on the scoreboard, Alejandro Quintero González, in collaboration with the VAR, was the center of attention. After a long review, he annulled Huesca’s goal. However, after a new instruction from the video arbitration room, he ended up conceding the Aragonese goal. The match ended in a draw.
Santo Domingo’s duel against Alcorcón, which will be remembered for the crazy ending and a 2-2 that would not serve either of the two opponents, also had its crumb. In fact, it is one of the most remembered actions in Urritxe. Amorebieta was already leading the score, but Ais Reig pointed out the fateful point when he understood that Larrazabal had knocked Arribas down in the area. Only he saw it, but he did it so clearly that he didn’t even need to check it on the monitor at the foot of the field. A set that supposed in those moments the tie of the potters.
García Verdura, back on stage
Already in the second lap, García Verdura crossed Amorebieta’s path again. And again he did it in a match against Tenerife. With the blues ahead in the light of Lezama, the Catalan whistled a more than discussed penalty that ultimately meant the final tie in the match. Bermejo jumped on Larrazabal, pushed him and that caused the ball to hit the lane’s arm. Nobody protested anything, but the VAR urged García Verdura to come to see the action. And there yes, he decreed the eleven meters for the chicharreros.
With Girona as a rival and Eduardo Prieto Iglesias as the main referee, Amorebieta suffered another controversial decision. This time it did not alter the final score, but it did influence the course of the match as Álvaro Peña was sent off before the break for, theoretically, attacking a rival before a corner kick. An action punished in the first instance with a yellow card for the Bilbao player but which, again after a review at the foot of the field, became a direct red card for the midfielder.
The series of penalties against Amorebieta had a new chapter on matchday 30, when Málaga visited Lezama. A balanced duel that Moreno Aragón opted for by pointing out the maximum penalty for an alleged demolition of Iker Bilbao to Brandon. So dubious was the action, with the blue player with the position won and the player from Malaga impacting Larrabetzu’s leg, that the VAR invited the referee to analyze the play on the screen. It did not help since Moreno Aragón stood firm in his decision.
First penalty in favor
Just three weeks ago, with Alcorcón returning the visit to the Blues, the Amorebieta players asked for a penalty for clear hands by Borja Valle at game time. Once again, no trace of the braid, Sánchez López, or the VAR. Urritxe’s men had to wait until last week, in the match against Ibiza, to stop being the only First and Second team that had not yet been granted the grace of taking a maximum penalty. Options to have done it before they had had.
The final chapter, for now, of the arbitration mockery against Amorebieta took place this weekend. Against Las Palmas and with García Verdura brazenly making an appearance for the third time -in the five duels he has directed against the Blues-. The Catalan invalidated a goal by Álvaro Peña in the 69th minute by interpreting, in a very particular way, that Nolaskoain was positionally offside and obstructing the goalkeeper’s vision. It would have been a draw.
Ten rigorous, controversial, controversial actions… that have deprived Amorebieta of having who knows how many more points in his locker. As few as they may be, they probably wouldn’t be in the delicate situation they are in right now. Although this would mean seeing a great like Málaga in the relegation zone to the defunct Segunda B and another historical one like Sporting with water up to their necks, in a tough fight with a rookie team, without weight or projection and whose complaints fall on deaf ears .
