MADRID, 18 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Athletic Club maintains its place in Europe after drawing 2-2 at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez against Getafe, while Sevilla and Valencia drew (1-1) at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, in a match in which Yassine Bono emerged as star by stopping José Luis Gayà from a penalty committed in injury time, in matches corresponding to the tenth day of LaLiga Santander played this Tuesday.
At the Getafe Coliseum, the ‘Leones’ added their third match without winning and dropped to sixth position, while Quique Sánchez Flores’ team also extended their winless streak to four games and have not been able to get away from relegation.
The initial whistle had hardly sounded when Ander Herrera put a ball to the penalty spot so that Iñaki Williams, embedded between the central defenders, controlled the ball and beat David Soria. The Ghanaian striker who played his 350th match as an Athletic footballer, scored his fourth goal of the season to become the top scorer for his team.
The locals knew how to recover from the goal they conceded in the first minutes of the game and quickly equalized. Aleñá was in charge of converting the ‘azulón’ goal after a bounced ball from Enes Ünal, and even Getafe had more chances, but it did not finish.
After a good first half by those from the south of the capital in which Athletic Club could not find their game, Valverde knew how to shake up the game after the break with the entry of Yuri, Berenguer and Raúl García. The Navarrese confirmed the visitor’s improvement with the 1-2 after an assist from Nico Williams after a good play on the wing.
The speed of the Williams did a lot of damage to Quique Sánchez Flores’ men, who withstood the ‘downpour’ until the connection between Aleñá and Munir paid off in the form of a goal. The Moroccan striker collected a filtered pass from the midfielder to surprise Unai Simón, scoring his first goal of the season and the final tie on the scoreboard.
The day was opened at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán by Sevilla and Valencia, who also tied the scoreboard, in a match in which Jorge Sampaoli’s men saved a point at the end thanks to a penalty saved by Bono.
After a few minutes of initial scoring, Edinson Cavani opened the scoring with a ‘house brand’ header. A measured cross from Foulquier to the penalty spot was taken advantage of by the Uruguayan striker who, after calculating the gap between central defender and full-back, headed into the back of the net after a half-hearted exit by Bono.
It was the first time that Sampaoli’s men had seen themselves behind on the scoreboard since the Argentine coach landed on the Seville bench and although they tried to counteract the early strike with two chances by striker Rafa Mir, Mamardashvili tackled doubts with two saves.
A good play by Samuel Lino down the flank that Bono deflected for a corner blew the first whistles at the Sánchez-Pizjuán. Sampaoli did not turn a deaf ear to the criticism and with barely half an hour of play he moved the bench, releasing Jesús Navas for the young academy player Carmona in search of improving the bad start of his team that he could not match before the break.
The entrance of Lamela and Delaney in the second half pushed Sampaoli’s men towards the rival goal, but Mamardashvili himself, and even the stick, prevented a Sevilla tie. Thrown into the rival field, the Seville team ended up finding the reward in the final minutes with a shot with the inside of Lamela’s left boot against which the Georgian goalkeeper could not do anything.
However, there was even more emotion in a tense finale. In added time, the VAR acted to review a direct red card for ‘Papu’ Gómez in one against ‘che’ to end up warning Soto Grado of a subsequent penalty. Gayá had the opportunity to give three key points for Gennaro Gattuso’s men, but Boni guessed the shot and avoided Sampaoli’s first defeat.
Despite the improvement, this new tie leaves the sevillista team far from the positions in the upper part of the classification, while Valencia also fails to get hooked on the positions that give access to European competition.
