Aduriz, 5 – Genk, 3. This could be the summary of the meeting that kept alive the team of Ernesto Valverde in the Europa League. The veteran striker scored the five goals of the Athletic, three of them from the penalty spot, in a new exhibition of his murderousness.
It was a great night for Aduriz but the Athletic suffered more than what might arise from the end marker to beat a Genk that was behind but always managed to get into the game. And is that the capacity goal of Aduriz contrasted with the fragility of the defensive team of Valverde, who showed two opposite faces and could only sing victory with 5-3, already in injury time.
Like wine, getting better with age.
It sounds a cliché but just the adjectives used to describe the capacity goal of Aduriz, who has scored many more goals since he turned 30 years old than before.
The fact that three of the five achieved before the Genk were from the penalty spot you can’t subtract one iota of merit to the outstanding work of Aduriz. The margin of the perfect execution of the three releases since the eleven metres, the striker opened the scoring to be in the place where it should be a battering ram and his fourth was heading to a perfect clear with a great pass in depth of Yeray.
The Genk caused a good impression and perhaps he was hurt in San Mames, but two of the three penalties that he drew in against do not support discussion. The victory allows the Athletic to continue to live in the Europe League even though the team of Valverde should improve because you may not always be able to live exclusively from Aduriz. Anyhow, he has been again rewarded by being called to take part in the next national team’s squad.