More is expected from Racing, really. Winning Leioa at home, in a gray game, generating less than expected in the rival area against a team that arrived with its defense plagued by casualties and after having 13 players 10 days confined at home it does not give for more than to score the three points. That is not a little, coming from where this team comes from, but it is not to go out to the streets to celebrate it.
The best thing about the local team was to verify that they are capable of having the ball, playing in the opponent’s field and moving the leather with patience waiting for the gaps to appear. That was done judiciously in the first half by Aritz Solabarrieta’s team, although only Soko seemed capable of unbalancing and creating chaos in the rival defense, that bailed water as it could. Curiously, in the second half, when the Leioatarras were left with one less for a surprising red card from Morante for a stomp that seemed more fortuitous than anything else, the picture changed for the worse for the Cantabrians.
The goal, despite the fact that Iturrioz did not have to intervene too often, it seemed a matter of time, the game maturing, and it came in the 36th minute. when a slip from Butler, who came out with the ball, gave the ball to Camus, who was shot down by Segado. Final. He threw it, hard and up, Jon Ander. Final, too. The goal, by the way, was dedicated by Vitoria to the dismissed Jordi Figueras, marking with his fingers in the celebration on 21 that the ilerdense wore on his shirt. Cejudo would do the same later at 2-0.
Cejudo, finishing to goal for the 2-0, after Soko’s heel.
Nacho Cubero (AS)
After Morante’s red card, Racing got stuck, he was more pasty with the ball, he even lost it in the intermediate section of the second half and in El Sardinero the ghosts of Bilbao Athletic’s draw in extremis began to be seen, also with one less , in the previous home game. It was not the case. The Leioa was very dignified, but it did not give him more than to put Racing in evidence and just a header, which came off clearly off track, raised the pulsations of racinguismo. That improved with the entry of Álvaro Cejudo, who once again shows an attitude of 10, his number on the shirt, every time he comes off the bench. As in addition to his attitude he has amply proven aptitude, with him on the field he had the ball again, he associated between the lines with Riki and with the extremes and, as icing on the cake, he scored un beautiful goal, a banana that sent a heel from Soko to the back post. By the way, it is going to cost Traver to unseat the Cameroonian from the title.
Soko fighting with Butler, from Leioa.
Nacho Cubero (AS)
Íñigo deserves a separate chapter, by far the best on the pitch. With an extraordinary physical display, he flocked all the balls that were in dispute in the engine room (now that is called winning duels) and This work was accompanied by a virtue that not all Racing midfielders display very often: he always gave the ball to someone wearing the same shirt. The three recently signed, Isma López, from the start, Traver and Capanni debuted with their new team.
Achieved 10 of the last 12 points in dispute, Racing is moving away from what at times seemed like a nightmare, that of the teams that would fight not to be relegated, but It has not just been hooked to the playoff zone because a similar streak, or better, has the four teams that precede it in the table: Bilbao Athletic, Real Unión, Amorebieta and Sanse. To get to the head-to-head with these teams in the last days with options, they will have to continue beating those in the lower area of a table that is breaking, it seems, in three blocks, five up, three in the middle and three almost condemned to the fight not to go down.
Luan Capanni made his racing debut.
Nacho Cubero (AS)
