Athletic 2-3 Girona – Betting Review
Betting Analysis
Looking at the 1×2 market first where the outsider Girona won and deservedly so @ 4.25.
Moving onto the Asian handicap betting for this contest. Girona played their best offensive showing on the road this season and won +0.75 start @ 1.97.
Looking at The Under/Over goal betting last of all. The line had dropped from 2.5 down to 2.25, but that market move proved wrong as Over 2.25 cruised home @ 1.80.
Match Summary
Girona won a fascinating five goal thriller at San Mames against a Basque side which started the game horribly, and ultimately paid the price for that in a 2-3 home loss.
Two of the Girona goals were put into the net by an Athletic player, but this fact shouldn’t discredit the win for Girona. It is however fair to say that the 3rd Girona goal to make it 1-3 was against the run of play, and killed any chances of a Basque comeback.
The game carried a blend of some great goals combined with schoolboy defensive mistakes (one each team led to goals), the last of which gifted Raul Garcia a goal which set up a nervy end. Fair score 2-3.
With this win, Girona moved within four points of the European spots while Athletic Bilbao can all but give up on 4th spot now and instead, just focus on staying in the UEFA places.
Having recorded their second-largest winning margin in La Liga with a 6-2 victory over Almería last time out, Girona began brilliantly.
The visitors were full of confidence and took an early lead through Aleix García’s left foot. After a nice move he curled a superb strike beyond Unai Simón for his first goal of the campaign.
Girona continued to press and after a series of errors in the Basque defence it was 0-2. The goal was deserved in the 19th minute, but fortunate in its manner. This as Oscar de Marcos diverted a header from Castellanos into his own net.
The goal came from a series of corners which had come after a shocking square ball invited a big chance which Unai Simon had pushed out for the first corner kick.
Bilbao to their credit reacted well and after a number of chances went begging, they finally halved the deficit. Yuri Berchiche drilled into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
Against the run of play Girona restored their two-goal advantage however. Mikel Vesga’s attempted headed away on a set piece ricocheted in beyond the helpless Simón which killed the growing belief in the host team.
Athletic emerged high tempo and desperate in the second period, but showed a lack of cutting edge in the final third.
Raúl García and Iñaki Williams both wasting good opportunities when they did come.
Girona maintained a fair threat on breaks and Rodrigo Riquelme spurned a glorious chance to make it 1-4.
Raul Garcia capitalised on shocking mix up between defender and keeper Gazzaniga, who gifted the veteran a goal back.
However, this ultimately proved too little too late, as Girona held firm during the closing exchanges to secure a well-deserved win.
