La Liga Lowdown, Jornada 14: Basque bragging rights go to Real Sociedad

Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao met at the Anoeta, contesting the first Basque derby for three years, after Sociedad’s relegation in back in 2007. After an impressive campaign last season, coach Martín Lasarte guided them back to the top flight, a place where they no doubt belong.

Athletic’s home-grown policy is a well documented one, but while Sociedad’s isn’t as strict, it does have a similar feel. The majority of their squad consists of Spanish players, featuring a mix of Basques and non-Basques – a number of which came through the cantera, the club’s youth ranks. “It’s part of the club’s overall project to follow last year’s strategy of using players from the youth team,” commented Lasarte. And it’s a policy that draws admiration and respect from many, not just the local supporters.

The two biggest clubs in the Basque Country went head-to-head on Sunday night, each representing their respective provinces, Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia. Of course, Athletic lined up with eleven Spanish players, but Sociedad themselves lined up with nine – the only two foreigners being Chilean Claudio Bravo and Frenchman Antione Griezmann. Both teams also lined up in similar 4-2-3-1 systems, and both were spearheaded by a Llorente.

Athletic started the game well, Mikel San José and Igor Gabilondo both went close with chances early on. But against the run of play, it was Real Sociedad who took the lead. In fact, what happened was the start of a nightmare evening for Athletic centre-back San José (who Liverpool fans may or may not remember), whose handball in the area led to a slightly generous penalty being awarded. The ever majestic Xabi Prieto tucked the penalty away at the second time of asking.

Sociedad began to get into the game a bit more, and ten minutes later almost made it 2-0. The highly promising Antoine Griezmann benefitted from a poor piece of goalkeeping by Gorka Iraizoz, who fumbled an easy catch, but Griezmann’s shot bounced back off the post. Major let-off for Athletic and particularly Iraizoz.

However, back to the San José nightmare. Just after half-time, he failed to deal with a dangerous right wing cross, and inadvertently turned the ball into his own goal past a helpless Iraizoz. It was a shame for him, as he’d been having a good season before then. From then on chances were few and far between; Griezmann had a free-kick saved and both Llorente’s went close with headers, that both should’ve at least found the target.

But time was ticking for Athletic. Joaquín Caparrós threw on Gaizka Toquero upfront, but he wasn’t able to make any real impact. Wonderkid Iker Muniain was quiet, Markel Susaeta poor, and their main man Fernando Llorente got nothing out of Ion Ansotegi and Mikel González who were excellent at the back for Sociedad. Their resilience was characterised by one man though – Diego Rivas. The central midfielder was everywhere, blocking everyone; he put in a fantastic, gutsy performance. The word I was constantly hearing actually was garra, which translates roughly as ‘heart’ or ‘spirit’ – perfect words to sum up Rivas and Sociedad on the night of an important derby victory.

It was by no means a great game aesthetically, but that won’t matter to the Real Sociedad supporters (who were mixing with Athletic fans in the stands). It was fast, intense and a great atmosphere though, as you’d expect from a Basque derby. The result meant that La Real moved up into the European spots, into 6th place; an especially great achievement for a team that were newly promoted at the beginning of this season.

Lower down the Lowdown

• The drama at Barcelona came off the field this weekend. A bizarre series of events led to Barça having to get the train and the bus to Pamplona, in order to face Osasuna. Because of the air traffic controllers’ strike in Spain, Barça had first agreed with the Spanish FA that the game be postponed and played a game later. Of course, Osasuna weren’t happy and apparently refused to play. The Spanish FA then told Barça the game was on, and they had to get to the stadium in time or they’d be punished. Cue the mad rush. They did eventually get there though; the game kicked off at 20:45 after they arrived by bus at 20:00. On the field Barça won 3-0, thanks to Pedro and a Leo Messi brace.
• “CR17” screamed Marca, as Cristiano Ronaldo notched up another two goals in Real Madrid’s win over Valencia at the Bernabéu. Madrid were without Gonzalo Higuaín and many had expected Karim Benzema to come in, but José Mourinho went with Ronaldo upfront with Lass Diarra coming into midfield. It was tight until David Albelda’s questionable red card, which allowed Madrid more space to work in and eventually Ronaldo exploited it. His second goal was great though; he charged forward alone, demanding support from Diarra, who just looked at him and reduced himself to a light canter. So Ronaldo just decided to keep running, do a couple of stepovers and smash it home himself.
• “My players were outstanding,” said Míchel after Getafe’s 3-0 hammering of Mallorca at the Coliseum. Although it was a great team performance, the decisive player once again was Pedro Ríos. The winger scored last week in their win over Sevilla and got two this weekend, including one fine strike. Geta moved up to 9th in the table, just a few points off the European places, no doubt relieving the manager of the pressure he seems to have come under lately.
• Manuel Pellegrini got his Málaga side back on track in the 4-1 thrashing of fellow relegation strugglers Racing Santander. Two spectacular goals from Eliseu and Recio put them 2-0 up, before Markus Rosenberg pulled on back for Racing. But it was all about Eliseu and Salomón Rondón in the second-half; the pair combined twice to earn the win at La Rosaleda.
• “We’ve gone from heaven to hell in a week,” said Quique Sánchez Flores as Atlético slumped to their third defeat in seven days, this time against Levante. There are rumours of discontent in the dressing room and Atlético president had his say after the Levante game. “I do not know who is at fault, but this was one of our worst games in recent years. We will have to ask Quique why he has not made changes until the 80th minute.” With Atléti’s recent managerial merry-go-round, it surely isn’t looking good for Sánchez Flores at the moment.

Results

Levante 2-0 Atlético, Osasuna 0-3 Barcelona, Real Madrid 2-0 Valencia, Almería 1-1 Zaragoza, Espanyol 1-0 Sporting, Getafe 3-0 Mallorca, Málaga 4-1 Racing, Real Sociedad 2-0 Athletic, Villarreal 1-0 Sevilla.

Goal of the Week

Eliseu (Málaga 4-1 Racing)

Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Spanish Primera Division