Athletic Club could not convert their chances against Osasuna in their Copa del Rey semi-final, and it has cost them a shot at the trophy. Los Leones dominated the second leg against Los Rojillo, but could only manage a single goal across 120 minutes. Pablo Ibanez’s volley ultimately condemned them to an aggregate defeat.
Much of the focus was on the missed chances at Athletic Club, with Nico Williams the victim of a social media pile on after the match. His missed opportunities were the symptom of a wider problem though. After the match, Inigo Martinez was not afraid to call a spade a spade on Cadena SER.
“There are no goals at Athletic. There is no ‘killer’ that guarantees you 15 or 20 goals. You go to the market and there is nothing either. We have to extract one from the youth team with pliers.”
“It’s a serious problem. It’s about putting it in the net and if you don’t, you go home.”
Manager Ernesto Valverde was less pointed in his analysis, but told MD more or less the same thing.
“We have done almost everything well. We lacked a finishing touch to have won. That is my impression. It was a performance worthy of our team. We are a team that takes risks and plays to attack. They have had the clinical side that we have lacked. Now the locker room is upset. It is logical. It will pass in a couple of days, we have to focus on the league.”
It has been a long-standing issue at Athletic in recent years, and the concerning thing is that there does not appear to be an obvious solution coming through at the Lezama academy. Until they do find a goalscorer, it is hard to see them making advances.
