Re: Alexander Isak scores the winning goal against Bilbao, today.
Alexander has now scored 12 goals, in 12 matches.
Re: Alexander Isak scores the winning goal against Bilbao, today.
What Alexander Isaac did in a few minutes echoes in Europe
By Simon Bank
(Software translation)
SAN SEBASTIÁN. Do you see how he runs out into a blue and white sea? Do you see how he puts his hand behind his ear?
What did you say now?
I do not know. But I know it's Alexander Isaac they're talking about.
A mountain had collapsed even before kick-off, nasty landslides had forced the authorities to shut down parts of the highway between Bilbao and San Sebastián, but there are matches that are stronger than natural disasters.
I've been dreaming of this for a long time.
La Real against Athletic Club, Euskal derbia, a unique derby in a unique part of Europe. Blood red from workers' and industry's Bilbao against salt-splattered blue-and-white aristocrats from San Sebastián, loving frivolity and raging rivalry in a newly built Basque football pot.
I've dreamed of going here. I've never dared to dream of doing it to see a 20-year-old Stockholm guy standing in the middle of everything.
But who had really dreamt of Alexander Isaac?
It was boiling
He has played the derby before (Djurgården knows more about that), but never with the big world's eyes on him. Now he did it after a week when he lowered Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu, after a senseless finish in La Real. The conditions were so hot that someone had to cool them down.
His coach, Imanol Alguacil, did his best.
Both Imanol and Athletic colleague Gaizka Garitano rotated their eleven to the maximum, coming from ecstatic cup matches this week (while La Real beat Madrid final-second Athletic Barcelona at home at San Mamés), looking forward to affordable cup semifinals of the week and pissing off a possible, magical , full Basque Cup final in the spring.
This match got squeezed, both teams rested half their eleven, Alexander Isak started on the bench.
Not because it dampened the mood.
It was boiling here.
The whole of Anoeta was painted white and blue, with two giant ikurriña flags on the short side. Attendance record. And so the song: Vamos, vamos mi Real. A donde vas sin corazon? Forward, forward, my Real. Where do you go without your heart?
On one side, Imanol stood with his arms crossed and watched, on the other Garitano jumped up and down as Cholo Simeone's Basque cousin. Their team played the same way: La Real with method by layer after layer, around the edges. Athletic with raw, hard work and counter-attempts against a lone Villalibre on top.
Slippery, sea-lined, with home dominance but without brilliance.
"Olé olé olé olé, Isaac, Isaac!"
It only rejoiced twice: The first time when Manuela Lareo scored the women's team in the Super Cup final against Barça, which appeared on the big screen before kick off. La Real lost that match by 10-1.
Second time? When Alexander Isak got up from the bench after a break.
- Olé olé olé olé, Isaac, Isaac!
He got 35 minutes when he came in, the whole Anoeta screamed straight out.
They did the right thing.
Ever since Alexander Isak slipped into Swedish football, he has had that difficult-to-describe trait that makes you want him to get the ball all the time. For something to happen, for it to be interesting. It does not mean that he is always good, just that you can see something that you very rarely see.
They've got this now too.
He got 35 minutes, he needed one. Then he had shown more than any other striker did throughout the match. He picked the ball into the penalty area and shot off the far post, he Bolt-sprinted to a ball and rolled Oyarzabal to an open position, he pulled a volley over, he humiliated the center back Yeray and placed the ball just outside.
That was a three-minute reference. That was the kind of highlights package that normal talents get together in one season.
Alexander Isaac is 20 years old, Alexander Isaac is dancing among the stars, Alexander Isaac's market value is lifting.
Three more minutes: Alexander Isak lures the pants of ex-Real player Dani García and plays Portu to open goal and 1-0.
And you don't have to take in (sorry if the insight comes a couple of lines late), it is enough to note that it is extremely rare to see a player come in and change such a match in such a radical, remarkable way. What Alexander Isaac did in a few minutes echoes in Europe. In 127 days he will play against Spain in the Basque Country, there is some to think about until then, for Spain, for the sporting leadership of Borussia Dortmund or Real Madrid or five different Premier League clubs. And, of course, for Janne Andersson.
What do you say? "Pleasant problems"?
We calculated wrongly
Alexander Isaac can never be a problem. The last time a Swedish player made this kind of impression, with this kind of course, on a football pitch he was named Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It's not a comparison, it's a fact.
Robin Quaison does a hat-trick in the Bundesliga, Alexander Isaac tricks rabbits out of his baskets - wonderful days ahead of us.
This was no ordinary match, it was a big derby in the shadow of a possibly even bigger one (the cup final). Athletic got his injection when Iñaki Williams came in with his power, he ran through and thumped 1-1, and we counted a draw.
But we did count wrong, because Alexander Isaac has his own equations.
He had shown his speed, his technique, his creativity. He needed another chance, then he showed his physical control and his deciding instinct. With seven minutes left, he folds the ball, holds the balance despite a slight push, and presses 2–1 on the volley.
Hole in the sky. Blue and white scarves dancing. Sports managers who swallow their cigars. And along the lines of Anoeta, a twenty-year-old Solna guy with his hand behind his ear.
What did you say?
We may return to that, but here in San Sebastián, a Swedish has moved into the next universe as a player. They scan his name, they fight for the shirt he throws up at the stand.
I don't know what everyone is saying, but I know they are talking about Alexander Isaac in Spain tonight.
By Simon Bank
(Software translation)
SAN SEBASTIÁN. Do you see how he runs out into a blue and white sea? Do you see how he puts his hand behind his ear?
What did you say now?
I do not know. But I know it's Alexander Isaac they're talking about.
A mountain had collapsed even before kick-off, nasty landslides had forced the authorities to shut down parts of the highway between Bilbao and San Sebastián, but there are matches that are stronger than natural disasters.
I've been dreaming of this for a long time.
La Real against Athletic Club, Euskal derbia, a unique derby in a unique part of Europe. Blood red from workers' and industry's Bilbao against salt-splattered blue-and-white aristocrats from San Sebastián, loving frivolity and raging rivalry in a newly built Basque football pot.
I've dreamed of going here. I've never dared to dream of doing it to see a 20-year-old Stockholm guy standing in the middle of everything.
But who had really dreamt of Alexander Isaac?
It was boiling
He has played the derby before (Djurgården knows more about that), but never with the big world's eyes on him. Now he did it after a week when he lowered Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu, after a senseless finish in La Real. The conditions were so hot that someone had to cool them down.
His coach, Imanol Alguacil, did his best.
Both Imanol and Athletic colleague Gaizka Garitano rotated their eleven to the maximum, coming from ecstatic cup matches this week (while La Real beat Madrid final-second Athletic Barcelona at home at San Mamés), looking forward to affordable cup semifinals of the week and pissing off a possible, magical , full Basque Cup final in the spring.
This match got squeezed, both teams rested half their eleven, Alexander Isak started on the bench.
Not because it dampened the mood.
It was boiling here.
The whole of Anoeta was painted white and blue, with two giant ikurriña flags on the short side. Attendance record. And so the song: Vamos, vamos mi Real. A donde vas sin corazon? Forward, forward, my Real. Where do you go without your heart?
On one side, Imanol stood with his arms crossed and watched, on the other Garitano jumped up and down as Cholo Simeone's Basque cousin. Their team played the same way: La Real with method by layer after layer, around the edges. Athletic with raw, hard work and counter-attempts against a lone Villalibre on top.
Slippery, sea-lined, with home dominance but without brilliance.
"Olé olé olé olé, Isaac, Isaac!"
It only rejoiced twice: The first time when Manuela Lareo scored the women's team in the Super Cup final against Barça, which appeared on the big screen before kick off. La Real lost that match by 10-1.
Second time? When Alexander Isak got up from the bench after a break.
- Olé olé olé olé, Isaac, Isaac!
He got 35 minutes when he came in, the whole Anoeta screamed straight out.
They did the right thing.
Ever since Alexander Isak slipped into Swedish football, he has had that difficult-to-describe trait that makes you want him to get the ball all the time. For something to happen, for it to be interesting. It does not mean that he is always good, just that you can see something that you very rarely see.
They've got this now too.
He got 35 minutes, he needed one. Then he had shown more than any other striker did throughout the match. He picked the ball into the penalty area and shot off the far post, he Bolt-sprinted to a ball and rolled Oyarzabal to an open position, he pulled a volley over, he humiliated the center back Yeray and placed the ball just outside.
That was a three-minute reference. That was the kind of highlights package that normal talents get together in one season.
Alexander Isaac is 20 years old, Alexander Isaac is dancing among the stars, Alexander Isaac's market value is lifting.
Three more minutes: Alexander Isak lures the pants of ex-Real player Dani García and plays Portu to open goal and 1-0.
And you don't have to take in (sorry if the insight comes a couple of lines late), it is enough to note that it is extremely rare to see a player come in and change such a match in such a radical, remarkable way. What Alexander Isaac did in a few minutes echoes in Europe. In 127 days he will play against Spain in the Basque Country, there is some to think about until then, for Spain, for the sporting leadership of Borussia Dortmund or Real Madrid or five different Premier League clubs. And, of course, for Janne Andersson.
What do you say? "Pleasant problems"?
We calculated wrongly
Alexander Isaac can never be a problem. The last time a Swedish player made this kind of impression, with this kind of course, on a football pitch he was named Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It's not a comparison, it's a fact.
Robin Quaison does a hat-trick in the Bundesliga, Alexander Isaac tricks rabbits out of his baskets - wonderful days ahead of us.
This was no ordinary match, it was a big derby in the shadow of a possibly even bigger one (the cup final). Athletic got his injection when Iñaki Williams came in with his power, he ran through and thumped 1-1, and we counted a draw.
But we did count wrong, because Alexander Isaac has his own equations.
He had shown his speed, his technique, his creativity. He needed another chance, then he showed his physical control and his deciding instinct. With seven minutes left, he folds the ball, holds the balance despite a slight push, and presses 2–1 on the volley.
Hole in the sky. Blue and white scarves dancing. Sports managers who swallow their cigars. And along the lines of Anoeta, a twenty-year-old Solna guy with his hand behind his ear.
What did you say?
We may return to that, but here in San Sebastián, a Swedish has moved into the next universe as a player. They scan his name, they fight for the shirt he throws up at the stand.
I don't know what everyone is saying, but I know they are talking about Alexander Isaac in Spain tonight.
Last edited by Zmeselo on 09 Feb 2020, 15:45, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Alexander Isak scores the winning goal against Bilbao, today.
With AIK- Sweden:
With Willem II- Holland:
With Real Sociedad- Spain:
With Willem II- Holland:
With Real Sociedad- Spain:
Re: Alexander Isak scores the winning goal against Bilbao, today.
the magazine Mundo Deportivo states.Spain's hottest player,
says expert Marcelo Fernandez of C More.He is full of confidence. Wow, what a performance. It's a completely different energy in Real Sociedad now that Isaac has come in,
Commentator Adam Pinthorp:
The Madrid newspaper Marca calls him aIsaac creates total chaos with Athletic Bilbao, right now. What an impact.
hurricane.
He can be one of the hottest strikers right now. Every time he touches the ball it finds the target - the same way an iron ball is drawn to a magnet .
Re: Alexander Isak scores the winning goal against Bilbao, today.
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