Striker stuns San Mamés with remarkable penalty but a late collapse means the unthinkable looms for La Liga stalwarts
It was just a penalty, some might say, but it wasn’t. It was two, for a start. And two like that in a moment like this.
Your club – and it is your club – is in the bottom three, the abyss opening: a first ever relegation, an end that feels like it really could be The End, changing everything for everyone. A club unlike any other, they’ve sacked their manager mid-season for the first time in over a decade, an interim board applying the clause that allows them to act only when “indispensable”, so bad have things become. The new man, Gaizka Garitano, on a rescue mission like his father before him, has taken charge but time is running out. In the final second of his first game in charge there’s a penalty, which there shouldn’t have been, and it’s all down to you now.
Related: Andros Townsend, Ole Gunnar Solskjær and a one-step penalty – Football Weekly
| GOAL! |
How about this penalty from Aritz Aduriz?!
A one-step run up was all he needed to put Athletic Bilbao in front... pic.twitter.com/TrhDZo3UEu
Related: Radja Nainggolan takes fall for Inter’s struggles but is not solely responsible | Paolo Bandini
Related: Magical Marco Reus sends Dortmund racing clear to crown his golden 2018
Related: Things go from bad to worse for Thierry Henry at Monaco
At Butarque, Sevilla were a goal down and a man down after Franco Vázquez was sent off at half-time. Yet amid the fog, Wissam Ben Yedder sneaked in to head home a last-minute equaliser to give them a 1-1 draw against Leganés. Sevilla remain third, three points behind Atlético – who they play on the first weekend back. As for Leganés, who have not been beaten by any of the top three, that’s now six games without losing.
It was a weekend of late goals, which started with an 85th-minute equaliser for Girona against Getafe. Sevilla scored on 90.35, Valladolid on 91.39, and Valencia on 93.02, manager Marcelino leading the charge on to the pitch. At 1-1, the tension had been building. The club’s director general had insisted that the manager would “continue, and continue, and continue” no matter what the result but failing to beat Huesca would have been hard to bear. Huesca could consider themselves very unlucky, wasting one wonderful opportunity at 1-1 and having two penalty shouts. So, while there was an explosion when the winner went in, players screaming and shouting, the final whistle brought a very different reaction: whistles from the fans and a mass hanky wave. “They can take it up the arse,” spat Ezequiel Garay as the players embraced in the middle of the pitch. “We’re out here suffering like dogs,” José Luis Gayá shouted. And they had too, but they’re up to eighth.
Leo Messi and Jordi Alba did Leo Messi and Jordi Alba things.
It was raining cats and dogs. Cats and dogs and bears and rabbits and Sponge Bobs and Pokémons and dinosaurs and Smurfs and Tellytubbies. At half-time in Betis’s game against Eibar, which they drew 1-1, fans threw thousands of cuddly toys on to the pitch, which were then collected up and taken to children’s centres. Brilliant. As are Betis: 2018 closes with Quique Setién’s side the calendar year’s fourth-best team.
Continue reading...