Granada came back with Luis Javier Suárez in a match that lasted 103 minutes in Mendizorroza against Deportivo Alavés (2-3) and in which all the goals were scored in a second half in which the visitors came forward, the locals turned the result around and the Andalusian team ended up winning.
It all happened in the second half, after Luis Maximiano's exhibition in the first half. After a goal from Sergio Escudero that came back by the home team in seven minutes, through Gonzalo Escalante and Manu Vallejo, Antonio Puertas came to equalize a tension-laden contest that closed with the third goal, by Luis Suárez, in the 87th minute.
With this victory the Andalusian team managed to break through the relegation positions, while the Basque remains sunk in the LaLiga Santander standings. Granada began by warning on a couple of occasions when the lack of forcefulness of the local backward left Luis Milla free of the mark twice, but he did not find a door.
Alavés began to pace the game and grew with the passing of the minutes. He did not let a Granada leave his field who sought the back of the albiazul defense with long balls. José Luis Mendilibar's team could not finish the plays until in a corner kick, the football walked ahead of the goal, finished Mamadou Loum as he could and Maximiliano saved the goal with an impossible stop at the goal line in 15 minutes.
Previously, the locals had asked for a penalty by hand in the area that the referee considered involuntary. These were difficult moments for Granada, which dedicated itself to repelling all the shipments that arrived on both sides of the babazorro attack.
The tension grew at times, especially when Joselu Mato missed his first penalty of the course, which they committed on him in the 26th minute and which the referee pointed out after consulting with the VAR. Maximiano guessed the striker's throw, but Alaves continued with their match plan and did not stop squeezing a Granada who could not find a way out of their pressure.
Before the break, the assistant canceled a goal by Escudero after a rejection after a good start by Fernando Pacheco, in one of the few interventions of the winger in the first half. A volley goal from Sergio Escudero after a corner kick by Álex Collado pierced the goal of Pacheco, who could not do anything at the speed of the shot of the player from Granada, who overtook his team in the 50th minute.
The joy was short-lived in the Granada squad because in just seven minutes Alavés turned the game around with goals from Gonzalo Escalante and Manu Vallejo. In the 53rd minute, also in a corner kick, the babazorros tied with a good iron shot from the Argentinian and in the 57th minute Manu Vallejo scored the second by pushing a cross from Luis Rioja on the goal line that Joselu Mato and Gonzalo Escalante missed.
It was a tension-laden duel in which moods were constantly changing and the attendees played a fundamental role in canceling two goals by the Grenadians for offside.
In fact, the VAR had to intervene for Granada to score their second goal. After several touches of the head inside the area of the Granada players, a shot by Antonio Puertas was taken out by Fernando Pacheco over the goal line, but the video referee determined that the ball had entered, after a few minutes of review.
It was somewhat that it lowered the revolutions of the party and, above all, of Alavés, who had doubts in defense and caused Luis Suárez to stand alone in front of Pacheco in a heads-up that he threw away after a good filtered pass by Jorge Molina. Granada finished the match more fully and took advantage of the doubts of the Vitorian team, which was overcome by speed and scored the third in a very well completed counterattack by Darwin Machís and Luis Suárez in the 87th minute.
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*With information from EFE