Athletic Club Run Riot in Vitoria: Alaves 2-4 Athletic Club Match Analysis
Jay Thompson ·
Right. Four goals. Away from home. In a derby. Athletic Club came to Vitoria and absolutely did the business against Deportivo Alaves, and honestly, you cannot say this was a massive surprise when you look at where these two sides are sitting in the table.
The final score was 2-4 to the visitors, and look, Alaves did get two goals themselves so there was a bit of a game here. It was not a complete hammering. But Athletic were the better side, the sharper side, and on a day when the hosts needed points, they came up well short.
What Actually Happened Here
Look at the league table and it tells you a pretty clear story. Athletic Club are sitting fourth in La Liga at the time of this game, on 63 points from 34 matches. That is 19 wins. That is a side in genuine form, pushing hard for European football. Alaves? They are down in the bottom half, and this result does them absolutely no favours at all.
The gap in quality showed. Athletic were clinical when it mattered. Four goals from an away side in this kind of fixture tells you everything about the mentality and the quality they are carrying right now. They are not coasting. They are still turning up and putting teams to the sword.
Alaves managed to find the net twice, which at least gave the home fans something to celebrate. But two goals when you concede four is not enough. Simple as that. You need your defence to hold firmer than this if you want to pick up points against a side who have won 19 of their 34 games this season.
The League Context Makes This Hurt More
Here is the thing that makes this result sting for the Alaves faithful. Look at the fixtures around them in the bottom half of the table. There is a real scrap going on between positions 14 and 19, with clubs separated by only a handful of points. Every dropped point at home matters enormously right now.
Losing at home to Athletic, taking nothing from it whatsoever, means Alaves stay stuck in a difficult position. When you look at the sides around them, everyone is grinding out results and scrapping for every single point. You cannot afford to get beaten 4-2 at your own ground and just shrug it off. It hurts.
Athletic, on the other hand, keep themselves firmly in that fourth spot. They are nine points ahead of fifth place heading into the final stretch of the season. That is a really healthy cushion. They look safe in the top four and they have the form to stay there.
Our Signal on This One
It lost. Obviously it lost. Alaves got beaten 4-2 at home. Back to the drawing board, as always. The signal was always a low-confidence punt rather than a strong call, and the result reflected that. Athletic were simply the better side and they proved it over 90 minutes.
This is why I always say you need to treat any pick with a 37 confidence rating as a speculative flutter at best. When the model itself is only mildly fancying the home side, do not be throwing your mortgage on it. A small stake, enjoy the ride, accept the result. That is the way.
Where Does This Leave Both Clubs
Athletic Club are in a brilliant position. Fourth in Spain. 63 points. European football looks nailed on unless something truly wild happens in these final few games. They are scoring freely, they are winning away from home, and they clearly still have plenty to play for despite having the top four essentially wrapped up. That desire to keep winning even when the pressure is off? That is the sign of a proper squad with proper standards.
Alaves have a tough run-in ahead. Look at the fixtures, because they really need to start picking up points against sides around them in the table. Playing teams from the top four is all well and good but the games that will define their season are the ones against fellow mid-table and lower-half sides. They have got the goals to cause problems, as two here shows, but that defence needs sorting out quickly. Conceding four at home is simply not good enough if you are trying to move clear of any danger.
The Bigger Picture
This La Liga season has been fascinating at the top. The team in first place has 88 points from 34 games. That is an absolutely ridiculous points tally. 29 wins, only 4 defeats. They are in a completely different stratosphere from everyone else.
Meanwhile the bottom of the table is genuinely tense. Five or six clubs are all bunched together trying to stay up, and results like this one, where a struggling side loses at home to a top-four team, just add more anxiety to an already nervy situation.
Alaves fans will be hoping their side can find some consistency in these final games. The quality is there in attack. Two goals today proves that. But football is not just about scoring. You have to keep them out too, and right now, that side of the game is letting them down when it matters most.
Athletic Club roll on. Alaves have work to do. That is your Saturday afternoon in Vitoria summed up, mate.