Super Cup: Raúl García's sweet revenge
Surely, neither
Zidane
expected it.
The semifinal began and Athletic drew as high and intense pressure as possible on the La Rosaleda grass.
The
Real Madrid
was unable to combine comfortably in any corner of the field, it always appeared once a rival of red and white to clamp down and force their losses.
Successfully.
After the first one,
Williams had
an excellent chance, which he missed.
In the second, a bad pass from
Lucas Vázquez
was cut by
Dani García
to assist
Raúl García
, who did manage to beat
Courtois
.
"The hallmarks of this club cannot be lost", Raúl García stressed about this effort in the front line of pressure, very common in Athletic in recent years but alien to
Marcelino's
traditional script
.
The Asturian is in favor of the withdrawal, of initiating the pressure closer to the center of the field than to the rival area.
This was ordered on the day of his debut, in the league against
Barça
.
But against Real Madrid, he renounced his own principles to favor a context in which his players are more comfortable.
At least for now.
"I'm not a magician,"
confirms Marcelino, who recalls that he has barely been in charge of the team for 12 days and that therefore he has not been able to give the team the identity to which he aspires.
«
The Super Cup does not have my brand or my stamp
, because the real protagonists are the footballers.
I am left with the unity of the staff and the feeling that they have because they are the protagonists, together with
Gaizka Garitano
, that we have come this far, "added the technician, who avoids placing medals that do not correspond to him and, a detail, recalls the work of its predecessor.
CONTINUITY, KEY
And it is that Marcelino, far from the clean slate, has arrived in
Bilbao
with a greater desire to carry out an orderly transition than to promote the revolution.
An attitude that is reflected in the training field, in his relationships with the different levels of the club and even in his appearances before the press.
The philosophy on the pitch is to take advantage of the tactical concepts that were working well under Garitano's command, even if they are not his, until the team has time to assimilate the ones he wants to implement.
"It comes with other ideas and a different style of play and we go little by little, trying to do what is asked of us, it is a work that is progressively going on,"
Iñigo Martínez
explained
on Thursday.
Marcelino's footprint on this team is therefore still limited to just a few details.
And among them
, the dynamism with which Athletic moves the ball stands out
, promoting rapid transitions and that the players give the least possible touches to favor the verticality of the team.
It is no coincidence that the two goals scored in play so far - one against Barça and the other against Madrid - have come after a robbery and a pass to the front to the final finisher.
The defensive imbalances that emerged in the League match against the Catalans were already corrected in the semifinal.
But, above all that, the arrival of Marcelino has served as a
positive
electroshock
for a squad that showed obvious symptoms of mental fatigue in the last months of the Garitano stage.
Raúl García has recovered his incidence in the game -two goals and an assist-, Dani García has removed his shackles, Williams is more comfortable on the field and
Vencedor
continues with his evolution.
Stimuli that Athletic hopes to express to lift its third Super Cup tomorrow.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
sports
soccer
Athletic Bilbao
Spain Supercup
Raul Garcia
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LaLigaThe good head of Benzema and the obsession of Raúl García
Super Cup: Real Madrid - Athletic (1-2) Raúl García overwhelms Zidane and Athletic eliminates Real Madrid from the Super Cup
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