La Liga Analysis · Athletic Bilbao
Three Restarts, One Derby Standard for Athletic
Athletic scored three of four goals from set pieces as Álex Berenguer supplied every finish against Getafe. The next measure is whether the routines still create an edge when the score and opponent change.
Berenguer supplied three restart goals
Athletic beat Getafe 4-0 at San Mamés and scored three times from set pieces. Álex Berenguer bent in the opener from a direct free-kick, found Aitor Paredes from a corner for the third and touched the final free-kick short for Yuri Berchiche to strike. One taker helped turn three restarts into three different problems.
That is not decorative detail on a comfortable result. Athletic had gone four league matches without a win. Getafe arrived as the sort of opponent who can make open play feel like a hallway with all the doors locked. The home crowd did not need another presentation about patience; it needed a way for territorial pressure to become goals. Dead balls supplied it.
The club's decision to add Andrew Hughes as a set-piece specialist to Edin Terzić's staff now has visible evidence. Cadena SER noted that Athletic had not scored three set-piece goals in one league match since May 2014. Hiring a specialist is easy to announce. Giving 44,160 people a routine they can recognize before it finishes is the useful part.
One afternoon is not a department
The fair counterargument is that a 4-0 can make every whiteboard look prophetic. Getafe finished with Mario Martín sent off before the final goal, and a direct free-kick depends on execution that cannot be ordered every weekend. Paredes also met a corner against a defense already chasing the match. Repeat those situations 20 times and the scoreboard will not politely reproduce Sunday's arithmetic.
Athletic should therefore resist calling this proof that the new department has solved chance creation. Set-piece value is not three goals divided by one match. It is the accumulation of first contacts, second balls, altered defensive assignments and better field position across many matches. A routine can be productive without scoring. It can also score once and never survive another opponent's scouting meeting.
That distinction matters because the 4-0 included an open-play warning in the best sense. Gerenabarrena won the ball, Berenguer released Iñaki Williams and the captain finished a direct counterattack for 2-0. Athletic did not need the restart plan to become the entire attack. It needed the threat of restarts to sit beside a route that moved quickly through open grass.
Berenguer made the routines connected
Berenguer's four-goal involvement explains why the set-piece work felt like football rather than choreography. The first free-kick used Maroan Sannadi's movement toward the near post to affect goalkeeper David Soria. The corner asked Paredes to win the aerial finish. The short free-kick changed the angle and let Yuri attack the ball with his left foot. The taker repeated; the picture did not.
That variety is the part worth carrying forward. When every restart announces the same target, a specialist becomes a man holding a folder everybody has already read. Berenguer can deliver directly, move the defense with a decoy or release the next shooter. Athletic's advantage is not a secret routine. It is the ability to make the defense protect several outcomes from the same starting pause.
There is a cultural fit here that should not be over-romanticized. Athletic's identity is larger than set pieces, and local pride does not add curve to the ball. But a club that builds differently cannot afford to treat marginal gains as somebody else's language. Hughes's work can belong at San Mamés because the players are translating it into their own relationships, not because a consultant has imported novelty in a laptop bag.
The derby will ask a better question
Athletic first have a Copa match against Prat, then the league derby against Real Sociedad. The cup tie may offer another chance to rehearse. The derby should provide the stronger examination because familiarity removes surprise and emotion punishes loose second-ball protection.
Do not judge the work only by whether another header crosses the line. Watch who creates the first contact, whether Getafe's three conceded routes force Real Sociedad to defend a fourth and how quickly Athletic recover their shape when a delivery is cleared. Then watch whether Berenguer's open-play passing still releases Williams before the defense resets. The plan should widen the attack, not make every possession beg for a whistle.
Sunday proved that Athletic can make a dead ball feel alive. The derby will show whether that advantage travels when the opponent has studied the tape, the score is level and San Mamés cannot simply applaud the total.
Keep the signal alive
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