Athletic closed the season on Sunday at the Santiago Bernabéu with an unsuccessful draw despite a good and deserved game. Even a victory will not be enough to tie the seventh position that allows the Conference League to play next season. Osasuna’s victory over Girona at El Sadar destroyed any possibility. The European miracle lasted only three minutes, the time that passed between the goals of sancet and the first in rojillo Budimir.
The rojiblancos condemned themselves to an inappropriate league final for a team with continental aspirations. Valverde’s team had a great run of results between days 26 and 30, when they beat Valladolid, Espanyol, Real Sociedad and Almería and drew with Getafe at home, but since then the balance is five points which was added from 24 possible in the last eight days. During this period, the lions were able to beat Celta (2-1). They also added five defeats (Sevilla, Betis, Villarreal and the last painful one against Osasuna, a direct rival, and Elche) and two draws, against Mallorca at Son Moix and one against Ancelotti’s side. Relegation figures in the last part of the League. There was only one team that added the same and was relegated to Second, Valladolid. Even Elche and Espanyol, who will also be active next year in the silver division, added more, 12 and 9 units respectively.
Athletic closed matchday 30 in seventh position, but only one point behind sixth (Villarreal) and two behind fifth (Betis). All options are open. He then had the chance for up to three days to beat the Verdiblancos to finish sixth and squandered all three. The defeats came at El Sadar and against Elche in Bilbao and there is only one carom left to access the seventh drawer of the Liga, beat Real Madrid and Osasuna lose or draw against Girona. In the end, neither one nor the other happened and with it the possibility of traveling again to the old continent disappeared. It would be six consecutive seasons, a negative record in the history of the ibaigane entity.
The people from Bilbao performed at a great level before the World Cup break. They were third on two days (7th and 8th) and fourth on three (3rd, 6th and 14th), but since January their benefits have declined. So the best classification in the second round became the seventh place.
San Mamés was a leak in the 22-23 season. Valverde’s men added just 27 points at home, 47% of the 57 places at stake, after 8 wins, 3 draws and 8 losses. A team fighting for one of the honorable places in the classification cannot lose the number of games in its field. This is the fourth worst home campaign in the League of three by victory. Only three have been worse in the 28-year period since the new measure was introduced in 1995-96: 2006-07 (22 points), 01-02 (25) and 17-18 (26). “We had good games in San Mamés, but we didn’t get results. The baggage of points at home is not good. If they were just normal numbers, we would be better, higher,” Valverde acknowledged after cruel to lose to Elche with a goal scored by Lucas Boye in minute 92. Celta, Cádiz and Getafe have the same baggage as the hosts and there are only three worse: Sevilla, Espanyol and Elche.
There is another fact that indicates the difficulty of the lions in making San Mamés a difficult field to desecrate, that it has become history. They remained scoreless in ten of the nineteen commitments. So it’s very complicated. They replaced it with their good record at home. Athletic is the seventh best as a guest, but these numbers are not enough to achieve the European goal set by the board, coaching staff and players five days before the start of the competition.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
