Los Leones v Los Periquitos
By: Elisa | April 10th, 2008
Que cute eh? Don’t you love this foto?
Questions to the masses:
Who is one of the top in form teams in La Liga, tied with Villarreal?
Who has the best goals against stats in La Liga, tied with Barçelona?
Who has one of the best home records in La Liga?
Whoa! OK, let’s not get carried away now.
This weekend we managed to get all three points vs a rather lacklustre, out of form Espanyol. But I gotta pinch myself, 8th place, we’re in 8th place? Whodathunk? Last year we were scraping at the bottom of the barrel and ended up in 17th place. What a difference a year makes.
So our ex Manager Ernesto Valverde was talking some trash talk before the game. Gosh wouldn’t it be great to win at San Mames? Whoops! NOT!
Fortress San Mames, El Catedral…
aka A brief match report on the Zurigorri’s victory vs the Catalans. Better late then never.
Starting 11 - Los Leones del Bilbao
Armando in goal (Welcome back!)
Party Boy Del Horno, Amorbieta, Aitor Ocio and Iraola in defense (solid thugs)
Fran Yeste, Young Stud Javi Garcia, Gabilondo, and slick Markel Susaeta in the midfield
Big boy (big bird!) Fernando Llorente and Joseba Garamendia upfront
Starting 11 - Los Periquitos
Kameni (I want a bigger club) in goal
Jarque (I want a bigger club), Torrejon, David Garcia, Zabaleta in defense
Moises, Angel, Valdo, and Rufete in the midfield
Luis Garcia and Veteran Tamudo upfront
A typical physical game for the Euskadi. Llorente breaks free 15 minutes into the game and makes a perfect cross on the head of Garmendia who scores 1 nil for the Vascos. Garmendia with his first start in awhile makes it count! Vamanos!
The game continues and no shock, gets quite physical. Big boy Llorente keeps getting all the bad calls because he’s a brute. Aitor Ocio out resident axe man, goes for revenge vs Luis Garcia. He grabs his neck and pulls him down. Yes, Aitor really needs some anger management classes asap. He’s lucky to get by with a yellow. But little Luis, just a suggestion, next time leave Aitor’s defending buddy and football soulmate , Amorbieta alone, k? Don’t go there!
Athletic keeps attacking and both Javi Garcia and Markel Susaeta miss some clear opportunities to close off the game. Oooh frustrating!
In the second half, Espanyol go into an attacking blitzkrieg. But our main man in goal, Armando aka Fearless, makes some stunning saves vs Albert Riera and Luis Garcia. Phew!
The Catalans in the 73rd minute, get a big break to even the game. Newbie referee Paradas Romero points to the spot, when our waiff like youngster Susaeta pushes down Tamudo in the penalty area. C’mon! Tamudo (aka Papa Smurf) is 4xs the size of our youngster. (OK, I’m exagerrating) Nevertheless, Tamudo bottles it a la Baggio and skies it over the goal. What is going on with los Periquitos? All is not well mentally. Ain’t that a shame (to quote Fats Domino or Cheap Trick), especially considering the way they started the campaign. Another lucky break for the Basques! We are finally getting some breaks. Hooray!
Espanyol’s heads drop and Bilbao somehow manages to hold onto the one nil lead! And get this no red card!. Yay! we’re learning. Incredible! Next week we play Depor away at La Riazor. Sigh! This is going to be a toughie. I am extremely nervous. Like our resident guru/manager Caparros told the press, one game at a time. Listen up boys!
Injury news - Fran Yeste was substituted in the 37 minute during the game. According to the official website, Fran received a blow to the right calf muscle. Medical staff are conducting tests. Stay tuned.
Hasta!
Category: Athletic Bilbao Team News
Tags: Aitor Ocio, Amorbieta, Armando, Athletic Bilbao, Athletic Bilbao Team News, Barcelona, Del Horno, Depor, Espanyol, Javi Garcia, Llorente, Luis Garcia, Susaeta, Tamudo, Villarreal, YesteSubscribe
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Comments
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What is the verdict on Javi Garcia - I’ve only really seen highlights before and that was the first time I have ever seen him play for 90 minutes. He was amazing, quite an incredible midfield performance for his age. Was that a one of or is he doing it on a regular basis?
Posted from
United Kingdom
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who the hell is javi Garcia for athletic Bilbao?? The only Javi garcia I know of plays for Osasuna. Are you sure you dont mean Javier Fernandez??. If so, this young lad is not from the athleic youth he is from Navarra and comes from Osasuna B.
And whats the euskadi? euskadi is the basque country in euskera (the basque language), y do you refer them as a region, to my recollection nobody calls them euskadi. As they wer’nt big headed enough.Posted from
Ireland -
Elisa,
Make sure to close all your tags. If you don’t you see what happens above (i.e everything on the site goes italic)
Just an FYI
Posted from
United States -
Ha Ha - what a muddle - Shane, It’s not Javier Fernandez either - I was talking about Javier Martinez, that’s who impressed me at the weekend. I think that’s who Elisa was talking about too (I think) certainly confused me jeje
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Papa smurf! funny - did you ever see the Bert and Ernie dolls they put out where Espanyol jerseys? Ever since then I’ve referred to Tamudo as Bert. The Ernie doll actually looked more like Xavi. Great to see you posting!
Posted from
United States -
***”Wearing” - not “where”
Posted from
United States -
Its Javi Martinez in the middle of the park for Bilbao, and it is not a one off performance, the kid is the real deal, definately not overly hyped on the continent but all in Spain know his quality. Congrats to Bilbao on their resurgence, to bad you will definately be dealt a loss when you visit the Bernabeu.
Posted from
United States -
Hah. Starting trouble already. This is what I deal with every week on the podcast. ’sall good. btw Corey, who do you think she’ll be rooting for that day?
Posted from
United States -
I meant to say javi martinez* sorry!!
Posted from
Ireland -
Javi Martinez - doh! Damn! What the hell mixing him up with the Pamplonan. Yes Lee, he is the real deal just like Corey said. Getting call ups for the U-21s now.
Hee Hee the whole world has gone italic!
Take it easy on my typos and writing boys, sheesh! Guess that’s what I get writing at 1am. Hah!
Posted from
United States -
And John gotta love the Bert and Ernie Espanyol dolls. They were top sellers.
Posted from
United States
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