Friday, May 18th, 2012
Athletic Bilbao vs Real Zaragoza
Athletic won for the first time in four league games despite being down to 10 men for nearly 70 minutes against a poor Zaragoza side.
The hosts made the perfect start when ‘s awful backpass set Markel Susaeta through on goal and he cooly rounded Roberto before slotting home.
However the game appeared to have turned on a controversial incident after 21 minutes. Javi Martinez seemed to have played the ball as Lafita entered the box but referee Perez Montero saw the challenge as a foul and as a result awarded a penalty and showed Martinez a red card.
Leonardo Ponzio stroked home the penalty, but despite having the extra man Zaragoza failed the make their advatange count. Athletic continued to have the bulk of possesion and were given the chance to go for the win when Montero even the numbers by sending Maurizio Lanzaro off with 20 minutes remaining.
Marcelo Bielsa sent on Ibai Gomez for Susaeta and the change paid dividends as Gomez and Oscar de Marcos exchanged passes before the latter squared for Gaizka Toquero to slid in the winner.
There was a mixture of joy and relief in the stands at full-time but with an eighth defeat in nine games it remains to be seen whether Javier Aguirre will see in the New Year as Zaragoza boss.
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Susaeta 7, Toquero 87) Real Zaragoza 1 (Ponzio (pen) 22)
Sporting Gijon vs Espanyol
Espanyol built on their four-goal haul against Atletico Madrid last weekend with another impressive win at Sporting.
The visitors were in front almost immediately as the recalled Thievy Bifouma strode through the Sporting half before blasting a left-foot shot high beyond Juan Pablo.
Espanyol controlled the rest of the opening period but had only two tame Joan Verdu efforts to show for their dominance and were made to pay as a much improved Sporting came out after the break.
Diego Barral equalised with a lovely delicate finish at the near post that sneaked in between Thievy and Cristian Alvarez and that goal set up a grandstand finish.
Both sides had great opportunities to grab the winner but Barral and Miguel de las Cuevas were denied by Alvarez and at the other end Sergio Garcia, Ndri Romaric and Alvaro Vasquez all shot too close to Juan Pablo.
Garcia did eventually break the deadlock with a wonderful finish from Alvarez’s flick on and, despite a scare when Ivan Hernandez had a goal ruled out for offside, Espanyol held on to move up to seventh.
Sporting Gijon 1 (Barral 60) Espanyol 2 (Thievy 2, Sergio Garcia 83)
Mallorca vs Getafe
Getafe won away for the first time this season after coming from a goal down to beat an insipid Mallorca side.
The hosts had been handed the lead just 10 minutes in when Miguel Angel Moya flapped at Michael Pereira’s corner and Ivan Ramis headed in. After that early setback though Getafe managed to get their passing game going and a smart move down the right set up the equaliser. Dani Guiza, Pedrio Rios and Miku combined to plat the ball in for Abdel Barrada and the Moroccan’s deflected effort trickled past Dudu Aouate.
Miku had been the recipient of some boos from Getafe’s abundant support in last weekend’s 1-0 win over Granada but he proved his worth again in the winning goal as he raced onto Rios’ pass and unselfishly squared for Barrada to walk in his third goal of the season.
The second-half was a bit of a non-event as Mallorca pressed for the equaliser but with Emilio Nsue restricted to a late substitute appearance they lacked creativity and movement in the final third.
Rios rattled a shot against the Mallorca post and Castro had the hosts best chance but shot straight at Moya as Getafe moved above their opponents into 11th.
Mallorca 1 (Ramis 10) Getafe 2 (Barrada 28 & 44)
Tags: Athletic Bilbao, Espanyol, Getafe, Mallorca, Real Zaragoza, Sporting Gijon
