Tenerife 0-1 Sporting: storming the Heliodoro against eleven… and against twelve — Yáñez is a wall and the Rusu, a spectacle

What's up, folks? What a way to kick off the weekend: Friday, you've just finished a full week of work, and at 9 at night your team plays… and after 90 minutes against twelve men, you bring home three points back to Asturias. I'm not asking you to top it: just match it, mate. Tenerife 0-1 Sporting: first away win, third clean sheet, unbeaten with 7 out of 9. And yeah, this post-match was recorded early Saturday morning because I've got a wedding — I'm grinding even on weekends for you lot, so I'm expecting at least a thousand likes minimum.

Kicking off on Kick: around 100 viewers in the first stream 💚

First things first: yesterday we did our first stream on kick.com/elopi23 — the first one in ages — and loads of you showed up: averaging about 100 viewers with some proper peaks, especially when the goals hit (the legit one and the one they robbed us, the "come on, you cheaters, check if the keeper even touched it with his hand!" clip is now channel folklore). Big thanks. The streams are happening there all season long: away matches, exclusive and free.

The video call with Juanma Castaño

Right after the match I jumped on a video call with my mate Juanma Castaño (you've got it in the video, sorry about the audio quality, iPhone speaker and all that). Here's the gist: Juanma came out of the Sabadell day a bit battered but he's already "getting excited about this team". His key points, which I'm with: the best thing is that Larcamón woke up for the first match — he saw what was there and he changed it —, the squad isn't incredibly better than last year's but it's deeper (last season it was 12-13 players and poor Borja Jiménez tearing his hair out), and watch out, Guillamón and Ferrari still haven't stepped up. And I'll sign off on this: "the team is still waiting for Gelabert — who for me is the best player on the pitch and he's not even at 60%, yet we've got 7 out of 9". When he clicks, this thing's gotta fire on all cylinders. Juanma's gonna pop by the post-match shows throughout the season — it's a luxury having someone who knows football better than most.

The match: Yáñez keeps the door shut and the team stays cool

Same eleven as Burgos except a last-minute change: Manu Rodríguez had some knocks so Nacho Martín started. Larcamón kept the block tight, and I like that: if the machine's running, don't tinker with it. It wasn't the best match of the season, let's be honest: in the shaky moments — some dodgy clearances, a Nacho backflip that went backwards, a Duñabeitia slip or two (even though he played an absolute blinder) — Rubén Yáñez was there to hold us together. Man of the Match for me and the telly, though the bloke in goal gives him a run for it. What a keeper we've got, honestly. Then the team warmed up: Guille Rosas brilliant again, Pablo Vázquez was solid, Cuenca was solid (hope his issue's nothing serious, had to come off for Diego Sánchez), Corredera giving everything and then some. Not so hot: Nacho and Konrad a bit off the pace, and Gelabert went missing — or they didn't let him show up.

The blonde lad's a show (and Sarco got his moment)

Nikita Iosifov, absolutely brilliant. At first he was dribbling past himself, yeah, but when he switched it on he was a whirlwind: the pass to Guille, the assist for the disallowed goal and, most of all, the burst for the goal: beats two men, gets to the byline, lifts his head, spots the only guy who can finish and sets him up. Alejo Sarco, who'd been marked after the Sabadell day (we were the first), came on, scored the 0-1 and put his hands to his ears like Ferran Torres. Who did he want listening? I've got a theory… and I love it: that fire means he read it, he heard it and he wants to shut mouths. Like Juanma said: we'll take one goal and one celebration like that every week. And the lad, shattered after the assist, heading to the bench for his standing ovation. Little vibes of Cheryshev, or good old Johnny for those with a longer memory — this kid's gonna rack up more assists than Hassan in no time, and that's a fact.

The robbery: disallowed goal and hometown refereeing

The brave finish that got me

When Iker, Pablo García and co came on I got worried: "here we go, Larcamón's throwing up the shutters with eight defenders". Nope, the opposite: at 0-1 in the 80th minute, Sporting were pressing Tenerife's build-up at their place in a 4-2-4 — Corredera and Loum sat deep, with Pablo García, Otero, Sarco and Iker suffocating them upfront so they couldn't get comfy in midfield. Risky, yeah. Brave, also. I thought it was brilliant, and that's exactly what we asked for after Sabadell: this manager listens, tries things and doesn't hide. And fair play to young Iker, coming on with some balls: driving forward, looking for space, fighting. That's how you come on for Sporting.

And a tip of the hat to Tenerife, mind: freshly promoted from Primera RFEF, six from six until last night, and they gave us a fight all match — without Yáñez, the first half gets tough. Cervera said their target's 50 points; ours first is too: 43 left for that marker. The Canaries, hope they do well all season… except the second time around. Now comes two straight games at El Molinón: Girona and Eldense. Time to dig in at home, because the points you don't take now you'll cry over in May. PUXA. 🔴⚪