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| Athletic Bilbao v Valencia: La Liga – live! | Athletic Bilbao v Valencia: La Liga – live! |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 7.39pm BST19:39 | |
| 38 min: Williams wins a corner in Athletic’s best spell of the match so far. This time, they play it short, diligently keep possession and work an opportunity for Lopez to cross from deep. It’s a curling, dangerous ball that bounces just inches from Williams’s outstretched leg and leads to another corner. | |
| 7.38pm BST19:38 | |
| 35 min: André Gomes is booked for a late challenge. It was a light feathering of Rico’s left ankle and was barely a free-kick never mind a booking. Valencia make a big deal out of clearing the resulting free-kick and are lucky that a resulting shot strikes an Athletic player’s arm and ends up gifting the away side a free-kick. | |
| 7.36pm BST19:36 | |
| 34 min: This is now awfully bitty. The whistle’s going every 30 seconds for the slightest bit of contact in any challenge. As a result, the game is lacking in quality. OK, it’s bad. | |
| 7.34pm BST19:34 | |
| 33 min: Fuego plays a lovely through-ball to Alcacer, who has only the keeper to beat, but the flag is up for offside. | |
| 7.33pm BST19:33 | |
| 32 min: The San Mames is incensed as Aduriz receives a yellow card for a leading arm that knocks into Mustafi’s head. It wasn;t intentional and was harsh. | |
| 7.32pm BST19:32 | |
| 31 min: Whether it has something to do with Gomes’s injury upsetting his – and Valencia’s – rhythm or not the game has suffered. Valencia’s passing is not quite as sharp as it was earlier and Athletic are slowly getting back into this. | |
| 7.30pm BST19:30 | |
| 29 min: Athletic’s resulting corner comes to nothing. Who’d have thought? | |
| 7.30pm BST19:30 | |
| 27 min: Otamendi gets his feet in a tangle and falls over cartoon-style just inside his own half. Aduriz picks the ball up and sets off with a free run at goal … but his legs are 34 years old and Orban eats up the ground between them and clears before the wily old striker can get a shot off at goal. | |
| 7.27pm BST19:27 | |
| 25 min: Piatti has twanged a hamstring. He’s going to be taken off. Rodrigo de Paul will replace him. | |
| Updated at 7.28pm BST | |
| 7.26pm BST19:26 | |
| 23 min: Alcacer has a shy from 20 yards, Iraizoz’s wobbly hands make a meal of it and he only parries out in front of him, Rodrigo rushes in and gets a toe to the ball and then falls to the floor quite theatrically. There’s an appeal for a penalty but there’s no contact as far as I can tell. Rodrigo was looking for that. He didn’t get it and quite rightly. | |
| 7.23pm BST19:23 | |
| 21 min: … but Aduriz, Athletic’s centre-forward no less, towers above everybody Peter Crouch-style, and clears with a firm forehead well clear of the penalty area. | |
| 7.21pm BST19:21 | |
| 20 min: Williams gives a silly foul away in a dangerous area. He stood on Orban’s ankle. The free-kick will be taken by Piatti 25 yards out on the left-hand side. He whips it in dangerously … | |
| 7.20pm BST19:20 | |
| 19 min: The reason there appeared to be apathy around kick-off was down to a political protest apparently. I doubt it was anything to do with non-dom tax or anything. But anyway, I can now report that Athletic fans are making much more noise. More noise than the game deserves really. The home side have been very disjointed so far and are inviting Valencia on to them. | |
| 7.18pm BST19:18 | |
| 17 min: Gomes is having a bandage wrapped round his head. It’s obviously done a bit more damage than to just his eye. Athletic won a corner just then. It was whipped straight into Alves’s hands, though. Corners eh? | |
| 7.16pm BST19:16 | |
| 15 min: Gomes has taken a hefty blow to the head. The stretcher comes on. And he quickly leaps up. His eye is bleeding. That’s no great. But he’s going to soldier on. The damage was caused by his own team-mate Otamendi’s elbow I believe. He can have a word about that at half-time. | |
| 7.14pm BST19:14 | |
| 12 min: Valencia move the ball silkily in midfield before Fuego releases the right-back Barragan (yes, he did used to play for Liverpool) on the wing. His scurries to the byline and plays a cross into the box that’s reasonable, but there’s no conviction in Alcacer’s leap and Athletic clear. | |
| 7.12pm BST19:12 | |
| 10 min: … but Athletic defend it diligently before giving it straight back to Valencia. They’re going to have to keep possession much better than this. | |
| 7.11pm BST19:11 | |
| 9 min: Valencia are very much playing this like the home team. They’re incredibly comfortable in possession and are so far not missing their captain, Parejo. They win a free-kick 40 yards out with a nice angle for an in-swinging ball into the box … | |
| 7.08pm BST19:08 | |
| 6 min: I’m interested to see what the fuss around André Gomes is all about. Every team between here and the Antarctic appears to be on the verge of buying him for a gazillion quid at present. He’s a defensive midfielder, of the metronome mode, with a creative pass in his armoury. | |
| Updated at 7.08pm BST | |
| 7.05pm BST19:05 | |
| 4 min: Rodrigo plays a cute pass inside Balenziaga for Feghouli to run on to. He gives it the turbo-chargers to the byline but the ball just rolls out of play before the right-winger/inside-right can catch it. It was an inventive bit of play, though. | |
| 7.04pm BST19:04 | 7.04pm BST19:04 |
| 3 min: “It’ll be good to see a match with some candidates for La Furia Roja (though they seemed to have dropped the”Furia” bit recently) as the national term rebuilds,” writes Charles Antaki in an email I never expected to receive. “Paco Alcácer was on the bench for the last game, and couldn’t really have done worse than Morata (who did score, admittedly). Or no-one at all, as the game ended up.” | 3 min: “It’ll be good to see a match with some candidates for La Furia Roja (though they seemed to have dropped the”Furia” bit recently) as the national term rebuilds,” writes Charles Antaki in an email I never expected to receive. “Paco Alcácer was on the bench for the last game, and couldn’t really have done worse than Morata (who did score, admittedly). Or no-one at all, as the game ended up.” |
| 7.03pm BST19:03 | 7.03pm BST19:03 |
| 2 min: Valencia lump it long a couple of times. Those balls come to nought. They’re the kind of direct passes you imagine Negredo would make good use of, but he’s on the bench tonight. | 2 min: Valencia lump it long a couple of times. Those balls come to nought. They’re the kind of direct passes you imagine Negredo would make good use of, but he’s on the bench tonight. |
| 7.01pm BST19:01 | 7.01pm BST19:01 |
| Peep! Valencia, in all white, get the game under way. They ping it around for a bit and lose possession pretty early on. Athletic, in their famous red and white stripes, get a touch and now this can be called a game of football. | Peep! Valencia, in all white, get the game under way. They ping it around for a bit and lose possession pretty early on. Athletic, in their famous red and white stripes, get a touch and now this can be called a game of football. |
| 7.00pm BST19:00 | 7.00pm BST19:00 |
| Valencia may want to keep an eye on this one … | Valencia may want to keep an eye on this one … |
| 3 - Aritz Aduriz has scored three of Athletic’s last five La Liga goals against Valencia. Measure | 3 - Aritz Aduriz has scored three of Athletic’s last five La Liga goals against Valencia. Measure |
| 6.59pm BST18:59 | 6.59pm BST18:59 |
| Right, the players are out. The Athletic fans are making a reasonable noise but with nothing much to play for it’s not stirring stuff at the San Mames. | Right, the players are out. The Athletic fans are making a reasonable noise but with nothing much to play for it’s not stirring stuff at the San Mames. |
| 6.50pm BST18:50 | 6.50pm BST18:50 |
| So, in the absence of any buildup on my TV, let’s talk about co-commentators. Now, the stick Michael Owen gets for his oft-banal, cliche-ridden take on the game appeared to reach a new peak of exasperation in my local last night. Phil Neville is often equally ridiculed as are numerous others (Mark Lawrenson, Clark Carlisle, Andy Townsend etc) who have a go at the job. Now, I’m in no way defending what they say, as it’s often rubbish and offers little-to-no insight, but what do we expect? I reckon co-commentators talk more than they ever have. In years gone by they would sum up what has happened with minutes between passages of play. Now, it’s mere seconds. There’s no broader perspective given on the game. Gary Neville has the ability to do that, but perhaps because he’s a one-off and a bit weird. Maybe a few others too because they have a better vocabulary or an online synonym generator at hand. But, my main point is that the co-commentator would be better if he/she was asked to comment only sporadically. Anyway, I’ve talked about co-commentators. Let me know what you think, if you’re out there and can be bothered saying something/anything about this. If you don’t, then listen to Tame Impala’s new song instead. It’s brill! | So, in the absence of any buildup on my TV, let’s talk about co-commentators. Now, the stick Michael Owen gets for his oft-banal, cliche-ridden take on the game appeared to reach a new peak of exasperation in my local last night. Phil Neville is often equally ridiculed as are numerous others (Mark Lawrenson, Clark Carlisle, Andy Townsend etc) who have a go at the job. Now, I’m in no way defending what they say, as it’s often rubbish and offers little-to-no insight, but what do we expect? I reckon co-commentators talk more than they ever have. In years gone by they would sum up what has happened with minutes between passages of play. Now, it’s mere seconds. There’s no broader perspective given on the game. Gary Neville has the ability to do that, but perhaps because he’s a one-off and a bit weird. Maybe a few others too because they have a better vocabulary or an online synonym generator at hand. But, my main point is that the co-commentator would be better if he/she was asked to comment only sporadically. Anyway, I’ve talked about co-commentators. Let me know what you think, if you’re out there and can be bothered saying something/anything about this. If you don’t, then listen to Tame Impala’s new song instead. It’s brill! |
| 6.39pm BST18:39 | 6.39pm BST18:39 |
| Athletic Bilbao team news, not in the groovy graphic style, and not lifted from Twitter | Athletic Bilbao team news, not in the groovy graphic style, and not lifted from Twitter |
| Athletic: Iraizoz; De Marcos, Balenziaga, Etxeita, Gurpegui; San José, Mikel Rico, Unai López; Williams, Aduriz, Ibai | Athletic: Iraizoz; De Marcos, Balenziaga, Etxeita, Gurpegui; San José, Mikel Rico, Unai López; Williams, Aduriz, Ibai |
| Subs: Aurtenetxe, Beñat, Iago Herrerín, Susaeta, Iraola, Viguera y Guillermo. | Subs: Aurtenetxe, Beñat, Iago Herrerín, Susaeta, Iraola, Viguera y Guillermo. |
| 6.36pm BST18:36 | 6.36pm BST18:36 |
| Valencia team news, in the groovy graphic style, lifted straight from Twitter | Valencia team news, in the groovy graphic style, lifted straight from Twitter |
| OFICIAL - Once del @valenciacf #athleticVCF pic.twitter.com/a7Y6jUWIIf | OFICIAL - Once del @valenciacf #athleticVCF pic.twitter.com/a7Y6jUWIIf |
| Updated at 6.37pm BST | Updated at 6.37pm BST |
| 6.12pm BST18:12 | 6.12pm BST18:12 |
| Evening. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. And no, this isn’t a Europa League match. So football hipsters you can choose to do something else if you like. But, what’s more hip than eighth versus fourth in La Liga on a school night? OK, fair enough. But there is some promise in this one. Well, as far as Valencia are concerned there is. The Spanish Primera División table is a curious one. Athletic are a whopping 22 points off Valencia despite being only four places below them. They’re actually much closer to the relegation zone than their opponents tonight. | Evening. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. And no, this isn’t a Europa League match. So football hipsters you can choose to do something else if you like. But, what’s more hip than eighth versus fourth in La Liga on a school night? OK, fair enough. But there is some promise in this one. Well, as far as Valencia are concerned there is. The Spanish Primera División table is a curious one. Athletic are a whopping 22 points off Valencia despite being only four places below them. They’re actually much closer to the relegation zone than their opponents tonight. |
| But Valencia are in a right old fight for fourth with Sevilla. At present they’re level on 61 points but tonight’s match is their game in hand. They’ve picked up six wins and two draws in their last eight league games. They’ve conceded only three goals too. And if they win tonight they go just one point behind Atlético Madrid. Finishing third would become a very real possibility. The last time they did that was 2012, when Barcelona and Real Madrid were so far ahead in the league it was laughable. The gap between first and fourth this time round won’t be nearly as big. It would be nice if Valencia could get involved in the scrap at the top again. It’s been a while. | But Valencia are in a right old fight for fourth with Sevilla. At present they’re level on 61 points but tonight’s match is their game in hand. They’ve picked up six wins and two draws in their last eight league games. They’ve conceded only three goals too. And if they win tonight they go just one point behind Atlético Madrid. Finishing third would become a very real possibility. The last time they did that was 2012, when Barcelona and Real Madrid were so far ahead in the league it was laughable. The gap between first and fourth this time round won’t be nearly as big. It would be nice if Valencia could get involved in the scrap at the top again. It’s been a while. |
| Valencia’s manager, Nuno Espírito Santo, has finally brought some much-needed stability to a club that has been all over the place on and off the field in recent seasons. His young Scottish assistant manager, Ian Cathro, is playing a big part too. You can read more about him in this blog by Sid Lowe. | Valencia’s manager, Nuno Espírito Santo, has finally brought some much-needed stability to a club that has been all over the place on and off the field in recent seasons. His young Scottish assistant manager, Ian Cathro, is playing a big part too. You can read more about him in this blog by Sid Lowe. |
| As for what we can expect tonight, Valencia may not have it all their own way. They are without their captain, Dani Parejo, who is suspended. Their left-back Jose Gaya is injured and their Argentina midfielder Enzo Pérez is also on the treatment table. Athletic have lost just once in their last six and held Valencia to a 0-0 draw at the Mestalla earlier in the season. I can see a draw on the cards, mainly because the injured Parejo is also Valencia’s chief source of goals. | As for what we can expect tonight, Valencia may not have it all their own way. They are without their captain, Dani Parejo, who is suspended. Their left-back Jose Gaya is injured and their Argentina midfielder Enzo Pérez is also on the treatment table. Athletic have lost just once in their last six and held Valencia to a 0-0 draw at the Mestalla earlier in the season. I can see a draw on the cards, mainly because the injured Parejo is also Valencia’s chief source of goals. |
| Prediction: Athletic 1-1 Valencia | Prediction: Athletic 1-1 Valencia |
| 6.12pm BST18:12 | 6.12pm BST18:12 |
| Gregg will be here shortly. | Gregg will be here shortly. |