Alaves 1-1 Levante: Alaves draw with Levante and worry about Novoa

Draw and fear. Alaves scored against Levante in their fourth friendly of pre-season, played in the midst of La Nucia, and the recent signing Novoa retired due to injury. An accident after a fall damaged his shoulder in the last period of the game and left a bitter mark on a game in which Albiazules were the better team.

Alaves drew their fourth friendly of pre-season, when in fact they deserved to win. They were superior to Levante, who will be playing in the second division again and are behind Real Sociedad and Valencia, and showed the most tempo and intensity this summer. He created the right opportunities for both teams to score more goals, but faced the same problem as last year – a lack of attacking goals.

This lack of impact, combined with a defensive error in a rough but precise corner, spoiled a good first half for the Albiasul team. Neither the heat, nor the double training, nor the millions of roundabouts and speed bumps laid in just five kilometers to get from Benidorm to the sports city of La Nucia, did not upset the plan of Luis García’s team. He dominated the first 28 minutes with an iron fist. Almost complete control of possession and destructive use of the ball. Constant changes in orientation shook the Granota team, coached by Julian Calero, the coach who, together with Burgos, created a record-breaking defensive structure in the last campaign of the Glorioso in the second division.

The difference in class was noticeable before the first hydration break. Luis Garcia made few adjustments to his players. Their all-attacking starting lineup with Guevara and Antonio Blanco in the engine room; Stoichkov up front, Carlos Vicente shining on the flanks, Konecny ​​and Panichelli up front. He seemed happier, more upright and more excited than in his first pre-season meetings.

The main culprit of this new activity was Konecny. The Argentine winger seems to start the game with a physical and inspiring point of view that surpasses the rest. He left behind a lot of exquisite controls and a stunning jumping ability, thanks to which he almost scored twice. Since the pitch was somewhat dry, these were the first two dangerous actions. With Manu Sanchez at left back, Alaves gained flexibility and found a way to regularly affect the penalty area. In addition, newcomer Albiasul is excellent with both feet, despite being left-footed, which makes him indiscriminate every time he faces.

The other notable figure of the first half was Stoichkov. In his first appearance in the starting line-up, before he had even appeared on camera, he left glimpses of his condition. The main one, the one he demonstrated in a recent interview with this newspaper: connect the first one you have. Manu Sánchez quickly crossed from the sideline, Panichelli dribbled and left the ball dead in the penalty area for the native of Cádiz to put a perfect shot past Andrés Fernández. In midfield, he made the right strikes to speed up the Albiazules game and launched two counter-attacks, one noisy but poorly finished by Carlos Vicente, which could have changed the score.

Calero reorganised the team during the hydration break and Levante managed to pull themselves out of the quagmire. On one of the few occasions when he reached the Ovono zone, he took the corner that led to the final goal. Abkar missed a ball from his compatriot Buldini with a dive that failed to clear the ball, and the forward was happy to finish off a good cross from Pablo Martinez. The Moroccan centre-back, despite his uncertain future, remains the leader of the Alava defence, and his duo with Tenalla successfully suppressed the timid approaches of the rest of the Valencian team.

Rioja provides the spark

In the second half, Luis Garcia insisted on giving Maras a chance and gave Luca Romero 45 minutes. The Argentine showed good ball skills, but he did not have any luck or success in his actions. Alaves slowed down and only Rioja’s last appearance renewed the attack without any shots.

In the final moments, Moussa Diarra and Hugo Novoa made their debuts, but the Galician was out of action after a few minutes after a struggle and an unfortunate fall on his right shoulder. His worried face brought applause from the crowd. Villalibre was back in the stands, still out of form. While Luis García is stubborn with Panichelli, to whom the club wants to loan him, Abde and Alcain are again out of action.