Valverde shakes Athletic in Mendizorrotza
The coach moved the bench at half-time and Robert Navarro changed the pulse of an Athletic stuck against Alavés.
Ernesto Valverde changed the game in Mendizorrotza from the break. Athletic reached the intermission thick, without rhythm and with Alavés comfortable after Antonio Blanco's early goal. The entry of Robert Navarro altered the landscape: more quality between the lines, more threat and another mental speed for a team that until then could not find air.
Alavés had taken the duel exactly to the terrain they were looking for. Score in favor, high intensity and Athletic forced to think under pressure. In that competitive mud, Valverde's team seemed too flat, with little spark to break a well-established local structure.
