Girona-Athletic | Girona defeats Athletic and ends its streak of seven games without winning

The set of Ernesto Valverde had resumed the path of victory against Villarreal (1-0)but returned to show a very gray face in Montilivi before a Girona by Míchel Sánchez which is twelfth.

Girona wanted the draw achieved at the Santiago Bernabéu to be a turning point and continued the good feeling by offering an even more competitive image, with an outstanding start to the game. In a first act of total and unappealable dominance, the only thing missing was the goal.

He chased it with a lot of conviction and brushed it from the first minute. In fact, before the completion Taty Castellanos assisted Valery Fernández and the captain made a self-pass that was too long when he could stand alone before Unai Simón.

Secure behind with a solid 4-1-4-1 and with Oriol Romeu as anchor, Girona, very vertical, collected scoring chances. Before the first quarter of an hour it was also recorded a high shot by Miguel Gutiérrez, a free kick by Aleix García that Unai Simón repelled in extremis and two shots by Toni Villa and Valery.

Clearly outmatched, Valverde’s team was able to wake up in a counterattack stemming from an error by Toni Villa. He sadly wasted a four against two, but it was too much for him not to lose, because he started with one less gear.

Girona responded immediately with two consecutive shots from Yangel Herrera, both neutralized by Unai, and with a great action from Miguel in which he only needed to hit the shot after getting rid of Iñigo Lekue.

The Bilbao team took a timid step forward as the minutes went by and Raúl García invented the only dangerous play for his team in the first half: a cross shot after a half turn on the edge of the break. Before the end of the first half, the local Aleix García still had time to round off the feast of chances with a nice heel shot.

Valverde tried to adjust the defense at the break with the entrance of Mikel Balenziaga by the reprimanded and demanded Yuri Berchiche, but Girona only needed a minute to show their ambition again. After a zigzag by Miguel inside the area, Unai repelled Castellanos’ shot. The Argentine tried twice more before game time, without success.

The reaction of the Basque team came from the hands of Nico Williams, with a left foot that sent Gazzaniga flying. But the situation was not good for Athletic and in the 55th minute Valverde turned to two new players, Óscar de Marcos and Unai Vencedor.

If the visiting coach protected himself, the local redoubled his offensive bet with Cristhian Stuani and Rodrigo Riquelme for Castellanos and Valery. Before leaving the field, the second failed to finish off a death pass from the first. David López also tried it, but ran into the side of the net.

The center-back, key in Girona’s defensive improvement, did not fail on the second occasion he had. In the 67th minute he headed in a free kick well served by Aleix García to celebrate the 1-0 and transfer the local superiority to the scoreboard. Valverde consumed the changes two minutes later, but never managed to change the script of the game and Iván Martín scored 2-0 in the 75th minute.

The duel was exciting until the final whistle because Gorka Guruzeta made it 2-1 in the 78th minute, volley after a pass from Nico Williams extended by De Marcos, but Athletic did not have time to spare and Girona finally celebrated a victory.

Datasheet:

2 – Girona: Gazzaniga; Arnau, Santi Bueno, David López, Miguel (Javi Hernández, min. 85); Romeo; Toni Villa (Iván Martín, min. 66), Herrera (Ramon Terrats, min. 85), Aleix García, Valery (Riquelme, min. 62); Castellanos (Stuani, min. 62).

1 – Athletic Club: Unai Simon; Inigo Leku (De Marcos, min. 55), Yeray, Inigo Martinez, Yuri Berchiche (Balenziaga, min. 46); Vesga (Victor, 55 mins), Oihan Sancet (Zarraga, 69 mins); Williams Jr., Raul Garcia (Guruzeta, min. 69), Berenguer; and Williams.

Goals: 1-0, min. 67: David Lopez. 2-0, min. 75: Ivan Martin. 2-1, min. 78: Guruzeta.

Referee: Pizarro Gómez (Madrid committee). He admonished the local Romeu (min. 52) and the visitor Yuri Berchiche (min. 35).

Incidences: Match of the 13th round of LaLiga Santander played at the Estadi Municipal de Montilivi in ​​front of 11,420 fans.