Berenguer shines with a goal and three assists as Athletic rout Getafe 4-0

Alex Berenguer turned in a complete performance at San Mames: a direct free kick goal, two assists and a hand in the fourth goal as well. With Berenguer driving the attack, Athletic Club routed Getafe 4-0 in a LaLiga match that was decided well before the scoreline grew so lopsided.

The opener came in the 16th minute, when Berenguer curled the ball into the top corner from a direct free kick. Just 18 minutes later, Berenguer himself set up Iñaki Williams, who finished with his right foot from the center of the box to make it 2-0. That was the score at halftime, and Getafe never found a way into the match, managing only a shot from Ramon Terrats in the 4th minute that the home goalkeeper handled comfortably.

In the second half, Athletic Club managed the lead without much trouble until the 69th minute, when Aitor Paredes rose to head home a corner, once again delivered by Berenguer, to make it 3-0. Getafe's night got even tougher in the 85th minute when Mario Martin was shown a red card. Two minutes later, with the Madrid side already down a man, Yuri Berchiche struck a left-footed shot from outside the box that found the inside of the post, once again set up by Berenguer, to seal the final 4-0.

A dominance reflected in the numbers

Athletic Club's control was evident throughout the match. Possession, shots on target and passing volume all confirm that Edin Terzic's side dictated terms from the opening minute, while Jose Bordalas's Getafe could only muster one shot on target in the entire game.

Our post-match expected goals estimate, calculated from shot locations, backs up that edge as well: 0.76 for Athletic Club against 0.41 for Getafe. Those figures don't capture the four-goal final margin, but they do confirm that the Basque side generated more, and better, over the 90 minutes.

The result, in fact, far exceeded what our preview projections suggested. Before kickoff we gave Athletic Club a 41% chance of winning, a 35% chance of a draw and a 24% chance of a Getafe win, with total expected goals for the match set at 1.9 (1.12 for the home side and 0.79 for the visitors). Reality ended up far from that balanced script: Athletic Club not only won, but did so by a four-goal margin nobody saw coming.

What the result means in the standings

In the LaLiga table, Athletic Club came into the match in eighth place with 12 points from 9 games played, while Getafe sat in 17th with 9 points from 10 games. The gap between the two sides before this match was just 3 points, a distance that the rout at San Mames effectively widened, even if the standings don't yet reflect today's result.

For Athletic Club, the match leaves the picture of a team that found the net through several different means: a direct free kick, a counterattack, a header off a corner and a shot from distance. For Getafe, on the other hand, Mario Martin's late red card only confirmed an afternoon in which they were never close to competing.