Guruceta puts Athletic Club in Champions positions and Girona sinks Elche

MADRID, 8 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Athletic Club will sleep in Champions League positions after clearly beating Real Valladolid this Tuesday (3-0) in San Mamés, led by Gorka Guruceta, while Girona further sank Elche, whom they defeated 1-2 , in corresponding matches of matchday 14 of LaLiga Santander.

In San Mamés, two goals from the youth squad from Lezama were enough to sentence Athletic to a comfortable game, with which he regained sensations after the defeat (2-1) against Girona last day to place himself in the 'Champions zone' provisionally with 24 points.

Despite the initial dominance of Pucela's men, with Weissman and Guardiola putting Unai Simón's goal in trouble, Ernesto Valverde's men soon found their game. The idea of ​​moving Iñaki Williams to a band to give the young Guruceta the lead ended up paying off in the form of a goal. Both were the protagonists of the first goal, after a pass from the Ghanaian, which the youth squad did not miss in the 19th minute.

The Biscayan team continued to dominate the duel, but could not increase their income or sentence their victory until the second half. Guruzeta, wanting to demonstrate his state of grace, was once again the protagonist, and made it 2-0 after a steal and an assist from Mikel Vesga shortly after the match resumed.

Valladolid suffered the blow and found no resources to get back into the game and ended up receiving the final 3-0 through Daniel Vivian, who headed a good cross to the near post from Iker Muniain.

For its part, at the Martínez Valero and in the match that opened the day, Girona victoriously settled their visit to Elche, which was unable to score points in an erratic match at the premiere of Sergio Mantecón, who served as coach after the dismissal of Jorge Almirón last Monday.

However, the impetus of the locals to reverse their bad situation soon found the reward of the goal after a great collective play. A wall between Collado and Boyé ended with a ball inside the area that Pol Lirola took advantage of to make the first. Mantecón's men were able to score the second on the next play, but Pere Milla ran into the crossbar.

From then on, the dominance of the visitors was overwhelming, turning their game into the opposite field and submitting at times to an Elche team that could not do anything at the insistence of Michel's men. Oriol Romeu had the tie with a great header, but the referee understood a fault in the Catalan player's jump and canceled the goal. Finally, Iván Martín found the reward for his persistence and equalized after picking up a prolonged ball from Javi Hernández.

It was in the second half when the game finished deciding in favor of the visitors. The pressure on the ball and his great offensive ability were key for Míchel's men to get ahead. A good ball from Arnau from the baseline was enough for Taty Castellanos to put the second on the scoreboard. Oriol Romeu was able to extend the lead but another ball hit the crossbar, while Elche was unable to create any danger.