Athletic Club 0-0 Deportivo Alaves: Visitors Dominate But Fail to Convert as San Mames Holds Firm
SportSignals Match Desk · Football analysis desk ·
The scoreline reads 0-0. Clean. Simple. Unremarkable on paper. But this was not a 0-0 that came from two teams going through the motions. This was a match where Deportivo Alaves threw everything at Athletic Club and got nothing back for it. That is a story worth telling, even if it does not have a happy ending for the away side.
Alaves Do Everything But Score
The thing is, Deportivo Alaves were the better team. By some distance. You do not need anything other than your eyes and the basic numbers to confirm it. Alaves had 69 per cent possession. They registered 24 shots to Athletic Club's two. Six of those efforts were on target. They had nine shots from inside the box. They created one big chance. They missed it. The thing is, that is the game of football in its most brutal form. You can dominate every number that matters and still walk away with nothing.
Athletic Club's goalkeeper was the difference. He made six saves. That is a man doing his job under sustained pressure, and his side owed him considerably by the final whistle. The home side offered virtually no attacking threat in return. Zero shots on target. Two shots in total. That is not a team trying to win a football match. That is a team trying to survive one. And they did survive it. So credit where it is due on that front, but let nobody pretend Athletic Club were anything other than second best for large periods of this game.
Alaves Control Territory, Athletic Club Sit Deep
Alaves were relentless in their attacking intent. They produced 87 attacks to Athletic Club's 31, and 38 dangerous attacks to the home side's eight. They won 56 duels to Athletic Club's 39. They had five corners to one. They attempted 30 crosses. The basics of competing for a result were being executed by the away side, not the home side.
Athletic Club's approach was not difficult to read. Sit deep. Defend the box. Hit long balls and hope. They attempted 59 long passes to Alaves's 42. They won interceptions, they got bodies in the way, and they made it as ugly as possible. That is a legitimate tactic. There is no shame in being organised when you are outmatched in terms of attacking quality on the day. But it is not a basis for sustained success. You cannot keep doing that every week and expect results to go your way.
Alaves, for their part, were frustrating to watch in a different way. They had the ball. They moved it well at 90 per cent pass accuracy against Athletic Club's 75 per cent. They put in 14 key passes to the home side's two. They had 15 shots from outside the box. That last stat tells you something important. They were knocking on the door constantly but the really clear, incisive opportunities inside the penalty area were harder to come by than the sheer volume of shots suggests.
Big Chance, Big Miss
Alaves created one big chance. They missed it. That is the summary of everything wrong with their afternoon. When you have that level of territorial dominance, when you have a goalkeeper working overtime at the other end, you cannot afford to waste the clearest opportunity you get. Accountability for that rests with the attackers. That is non-negotiable. The effort was there. The desire to compete was obvious. The execution in the moment that mattered most was not good enough. End of.
Substitutions and Flashpoints
Both managers made changes as the match wore on, each making five substitutions across the second half. Athletic Club brought on Toni Martínez for Mariano Díaz in the 65th minute and Youssef Enríquez for Abde Rebbach a minute later. Antonio Blanco came on for Carlos Protesoni in the 75th minute, alongside Ángel Pérez replacing Lucas Boyé. Carles Aleñá entered late for Pablo Ibáñez.
Alaves made their own changes, with Jesús Areso and J. Louis-Jean being swapped at half-time, and Álex Berenguer and Maroan Sannadi coming on in the 62nd minute for Mikel Jauregizar and Iñaki Williams respectively. Robert Navarro made way for Peio Canales and Yuri Berchiche was replaced by Nico Serrano late on.
There were two bookings for Alaves. Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta was carded for a foul in the 71st minute. Then, in added time, Jesús Areso picked up a yellow card for an argument. Listen, if you have been on the pitch since the 46th minute and the final whistle is in sight, losing your head in an argument is not what your team needs. That is a lack of discipline. You are not helping anyone. It is a minor detail in a 0-0, but attitude and standards matter at every minute of the match.
What the Result Means
Athletic Club came into this match having taken wins over Atletico Madrid and Celta Vigo in their previous two La Liga outings, beating Atletico Madrid 3-0 and Celta Vigo 2-0. Those were impressive results. But they had also lost to Barcelona and Sevilla before that. The draw with Elche last week and now this goalless result at home to Alaves shows that consistency is still a question mark.
Alaves had lost their two most recent La Liga matches before this fixture, a 0-1 defeat to Valencia and a 1-2 loss to Racing Santander. Prior to that they had beaten Osasuna 5-2 and Villarreal 1-0. A point here stops a losing run. Whether that feels like progress depends on how honest you are about what they created and what they squandered.
The thing is, a draw was about the fairest result when all is said and done. Athletic Club hung on for ninety minutes. Alaves could not convert dominance into goals. Both teams can look at this and find reasons for frustration. That is usually what a 0-0 is. Nobody wins. Nobody loses. The conversation starts again next week.
