3-0: Athletic are 13 out of 15 after beating mediocre Elfsborg

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Three more points and they are 13 out of 15 for Athletic in the Europa League. The lions, with Unai Simón returning to the competition after the operation he underwent at the end of the Euro Cup, this time eliminated a willing Elfsborg. Adama, in place of the injured Yuri on the left side, Prados and Guruzeta scored the goals for the lions’ victory.

The match was one of clear red-and-white dominance and control. The visiting defense, which, unlike expected, consisted of four and not five players, jumped into the air for the first time. Corner kick studied by the people of Bilbao and shot into the net by Adama in the 6th minute.

The yellows were subdued from then on by an Athletic team that took the clash seriously and made no concessions of any kind. On the contrary. The second goal of the night came relatively soon with a Nico Williams drive that culminated in a header from Prados. The lions had almost done their homework by the 24th minute.

The rest of the meeting ran as an inventory. The locals, without needing to step on the accelerator, took seriously one of their great virtues against a weak enemy who, because they didn’t give, didn’t even kick. Guruzeta took advantage of his option to close the scoring and Valverde to measure his effort by using the bench.

Change of goalkeeper

The Athletic coach recovered Unai Simón for the goal. The presence of the international goalkeeper, who has not been in the lineups since the end of the European Championship in Germany due to his operation on his right wrist, is one of the highlights in a red and white team with more innovations at the back and in front of attack. Gorosabel, Paredes and Adama trained at the back and Guruzeta at the front. Vivian, Prados, Galarreta, the Williams and Sancet repeated about the derby.

In Elfsborg his most notable starting point came from the game system used. The Swedes, expected to have a defense of five, stood at San Mamés with a clear 1-4-4-2. The yellows have made retreating into their own field another characteristic of theirs.

The lions felt very comfortable in such a situation. His forward pressure meant the ball barely wandered into Unai Simón’s domain. Adama also had the virtue of scoring the first local shot between the three sticks. Corner was trained by a kick from Nico Williams to Guruzeta and he left the left back who came to replace the injured Yuri. Minute 6 of the game.

Athletic were masters of the situation and the ball and put in behind an opponent who could barely get past the midfield line. Nico Williams was a great cheerleader for a red and white team that increased its lead midway through the first half with a precise point-blank header from Prados following a pass from the Navarrese winger. The visitors only tested Unai Simón on the brink of half-time in an outing where the Alavés goalkeeper did not measure up well.


The tone of the match remained the same in the second half. Elfsborg, with two changes at the start, threatened to take a step forward, but Athletic took very little time to regain control of the situation. The lions, in fact, scored a new goal, in the third of the night, in the 53rd minute, Adama, one of the highlights of the night, came in on his wing and Guruzeta finished it in the back of the net.

Valverde, who was in full control of the match, came off the bench to balance his strength for a grueling final stretch of the year. Ander Herrera and Berenguer then came on for Galarreta and Iñaki Williams, seven minutes later Unai Gómez and Nico Serrano replaced Sancet and Nico Williams and Lekue closed the rotation replacing Adama after more than a quarter just one more hour.

Guruzeta, Gorosabel and Nico Serrano, among others, had their options to increase the lead on the scoreboard, but they were unable to achieve the goal. Three more points, in other words, for an Athletic who already have 13 out of 15 played in this Europa League.

athletic

30

Elfsborg

Athletic Club: First Simon; Gorosabal, Vivián, Paredes, Adama (Lekue, m.76); Galarreta (Herrera, m.56), Prados; Iñaki Williams (Berenguer, m.56), Sancet (Unai Gómez, m.63), Nico Williams (Nico Serrano, m.63); and Guruzeta.
IF Elfsborg: Pettersson; Holmén, Buhari Ibrahim (Ouma, d.46), Henriksson; Hedlund, Besfort Zeneli (Holten, d.72), Baldursson, Hult; Baidoo (Yegbe, m.72), Qasem (Kaib, m.72) and Arber Zeneli (Rapp, m.46).
Goals: 1-0, m.6: Adama Boiro. 2-0, m.24: Nico Williams. 3-0, m.53: Guruzeta.
Referee: Giorgi Kruashvili (Georgia). He showed yellow cards to local Prados (m.21) and visitor Buhari Ibrahim (m.30).
Field: The match on the fifth day of the Europa League was played in San Mamés before about 46,325 spectators, Official data. Among them are more than 400 visiting followers. As every time a team visits San Mamés for the first time, IF Elfsborg’s captain, Sebastian Holmén, places a bouquet of flowers on Pichichi’s chest at the foot of the field.

see the match sheet

Source: La Verdad

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