0-2: Great start to Almería’s season

UD Almería started the season with a great victory after playing a full game on their visit to Lugo. The Almeria players were able to dominate both halves of the match to the point that they scored two goals in the first-half, thanks to Akieme and Aketxe. The team performed well in the second-half to make things really difficult for the opponents.

José Gomes bet for the first starting XI of the season picking up a formation in which there were six players who arrived at Almería during the transfer market. Thus, the Rojiblanco team began the encounter with Makaridze, Balliu, Cuenca, Maras, Akieme, César de la Hoz, Samú, Fran Villalba, Lazo, Aketxe and Juan Villar. The meeting started in the best possible way. Barely twelve minutes had passed when Almeria had already scored two goals and, moreover, displaying a great playing style on the Anxo Carro pitch. In this sense, Akieme finished, in the 7th minute while, shortly after, Aketxe finished a pass from behind at hands of Juan Villar, who left the defenders behind after losing his marker.

Far from relaxing with a 0-2 result on the scoreboard, UD Almería continued with their dominance until the break. In the remaining time, the visiting team created more chances to extend their advantage, in fact, a shot by Fran Villalba went wide, yet he did not find the net.

The last 45 minutes began with a double substitution in the Almeria line-up: Pedro Mendes and Petrovic came on for Juan Villar and Samú, who was awarded a yellow card. Lugo, who wanted to stage a comeback, looking for the goal defended by Makaridze. In turn, the Rojiblancos – wearing their away kit – attempted to add up speed to their game whenever they recovered the ball. 

With 57 minutes on the clock, some complications arose. At that time, Sergio Akieme, who was performing brilliantly, was sent off as a result of two yellow cards, which forced the head coach to change the approach of the game. In relation to this, Iván Martos would be in charge of entering the field of play taking over Aketxe. Anyway, despite going down to ten men, Almería did not struggle. The squad led by José Gomes continued to show off their skills and, although the Galicia’s players gained presence in the attacking third, there would be no goal-scoring opportunities. 

All in all, the final whistle sealed UD Almería's first win of the 2020/21 season after dominating the game through and through with a stunning first-half attacking display and a huge effort to defend their goal no matter what.