Gazzaniga, twelve clean sheets

Racing, Deportivo and Alcorcón have conceded just 18 goals so far this season in the league. Together with Eldense, from the second group, with 17 goals conceded, they are the four clubs that have conceded the fewest goals in this third category of Spanish football. Italian goalkeeper Gianfranco Gazzaniga is part of the success of the Ferrol team. He conceded 17 of the 18 goals conceded by Racing (Diego Rivas was missing) in the 2,250 minutes he spent on the pitch. Add twelve clean sheet games and four of the goals conceded were scored from eleven yards.

Gazzaniga is only the tip of the iceberg of the racingista defense that has worked perfectly since the beginning of the season, despite the many casualties that have occurred in this part of the field, including two veterans, Luca Ferrone and Fernando Pumara, who forced two 20-year-old boys, Enol Coto and Brais Martínez, take on a role that was not foreseen for them.

Gazzaniga goes forward very well, in corner kicks or lateral fouls he is a guaranteed goalkeeper, who is not afraid to come out. He also has good reflexes under the sticks and in more than one match he saved the Racinguista team from defeat with very good hands.

His worst weakness is his footwork. Not only for him, for many goalkeepers, although the trend in modern football is for the goalkeeper to be one more when it comes to getting the ball from the back. Gazzaniga suffers a lot when he needs to hit the ball with his foot, but also with long passes with his hands. He does it, it’s his job, although it’s clear that his thing would be to violently hit the ball high, as far away from the goal as possible.

Racing’s touch game doesn’t help him either. Cristóbal wants the team to get the ball from the back and the opponents know that, so they apply pressure. The players are always heavily marked, so it is not easy for Gazzaniga to find an unmarked teammate and choose who he has to give the ball to.

left side

The Ferrolans will need the best Gazzaniga today and the best defense in the home of leaders Alcorcón, in Santo Domingo, where he plays this morning at twelve o’clock. In addition, it is the worst casualty game, although Cristóbal is without a left-back, as Brais Martínez is injured and Aitor Pascual has to serve a one-game ban for accumulating cards. Therefore, Cristóbal will have to move his pieces in defense. One option he is considering is to deploy Enola Coto on the left and move Quique Fornos to the right, with Jon Garcia and David Castro as central defenders. Another option is to move David Castro to left back, although that seems less likely.

As for the rest of the squad for this match, Carlos Vicente, Héber and Manu Justo are regulars in attack, with Fran Manzanara and Luis Chacón likely to play in midfield, although Ferrol’s Jesús Bernal or Álex López could be third.

Alcorcón has never lost at home

Alcorcón is the first leader of the First RFEF group with 53 points. It was the best home team, 30 points, and as a guest, 23 points. On its home ground, the City Stadium of Santo Domingo, inaugurated in 1999 and with a capacity of 5,100 spectators, was unstoppable, winning almost everything. He played 12 games, winning nine and drawing three. That is, he does not know defeat. In 12 games played on their field, they scored 22 goals and conceded only five, which is a good example of the defensive security of this team.

Away from home, Alcorcón also performed at a high level, although their performance was weaker than at home. Away from Madrid, he played 14 games with a record of seven wins, two draws and five losses. One of the victories was on the field of A Malat, in the first game, where they unfairly took three points, winning 1-2 with two gifts from racinguist in the last part of the game.

Adrian Dalmau

In their ranks, there is a former Racing player, Adrián Dalmau, who normally plays as a center forward. In the previous part of the championship, he scored six goals, the last one in the previous day’s match at Linares.

The best scorer of the team is the Asturian midfielder Álvaro Bustos, who coincided with Manu Justa in Santander, who already has seven goals, as many goals as the Madrid forward Christian Borrego «Chiki». They have a very experienced staff.

Madrid coach

Fran Fernández, coach of AD Alcorcón, highlights the good moment of the racinguistas, who have played eight games in a row without defeat, although he added that his team is also going through a great moment of the game: «I expect a very difficult game and complicated – he said – since they have played eight game without defeat and they arrived, probably, in their best moment of the season, but we are also in a good moment. We have not prepared anything special for this match, the nuances of each match, some details that we will change and a little more.

He added that he sees his team very aware and aware that: “We have a very strong opponent waiting for us. I think it will be a very even game, in the long run, as it was in the first game. I’m sure it will be a very nice game to watch, because we have two great teams waiting for us, who we try to defend as much as possible, who handle sets well. I think we are two very similar teams in the game, staff and budget. At the moment we have a certain advantage, although we know that we will have a rival in front of us who will be there until the end.

Alcorón now has 53 points and Racing 46. The match is important for both teams. A win for Racing would leave them three points behind Alcorcón, while a win for the Madrid team would give them a 9-point advantage.