Eibar beat Girona (0-1) this Thursday in the first leg of the semifinal playoff for promotion to First, thanks to a goal from about 35 meters by Aketxe and despite playing the second half with one less due to the unfortunate expulsion of Tejero.
As a good qualifying match, the clash had everything in Montilivi. The local team was greatly outmatched in the first half, but found its option just before the break, with two yellow cards in one minute from Tejero. Eibar was left with 10 after being better and making it 0-1, a goal to watch in a loop.
In sport and football in question, the film can change in a second.
There were two important turns in 45 minutes, the first rather a parabola, the one that Aketxe’s tremendous kick made the squad, from near the center of the field biscuit.
The Basque team was ahead after half an hour with justice, after little by little enclosing their rival and enjoying arrivals. Edu Expósito ran into the crossbar but the 0-1 fell with one of the goals of the season. Girona suffered even more to progress towards the rival goal and went to the locker room without a single clear chance.
However, two attacks in the discount from Tejero to Baena left two yellow cards that seemed clear despite Garitano’s bitterness. The change of script forced Eibar to become strong behind and they partially succeeded. Girona squeezed and also locked up their rival, but Stuani had no aim, to whom all the balls came.
The top scorer in LaLiga SmartBank had headers off target, Baena tried his overflows, but Girona failed to hit the net. Already in the discount Alex García also had it. On the counterattack, Fran Solo and Blanco Leschuk had had the option of an even harder blow from an Eibar team that has Montilivi in mind.
Girona, which is playing promotion to LaLiga Santander for the third consecutive year, will have to seek a comeback on Sunday in Ipurua, where the armory team will try to advance to the final, the long way to go after losing the direct ticket in the last minute of the regular season.