Athletic Club dealt defensive blow ahead of Alavés | OneFootball

Athletic Club will be forced to make do without a key member of the club’s defensive ranks for their upcoming meeting with Alavés.

The player in question? Aitor Paredes.

Stopper Paredes, for his part, was afforded his latest starting berth on Sunday, playing a central role en route to Athletic’s eventual 2-0 La Liga downing of Las Palmas.

Late in the action at the Estadio Gran Canaria, however, the 23-year-old was shown a yellow card, for a foul on Sergi Cardona.

This came as Paredes’ fifth booking of the campaign in La Liga.

As much of course gives rise to a one-game suspension, meaning the Spaniard will be unavailable to head coach Ernesto Valverde when Athletic play host to Alavés next Saturday night.

Drawn on the subject of his impending ban post-match, Paredes was realistic in admitting that his fifth booking of the campaign was always likely to come at some point or another, in quotes gathered by Mundo Deportivo:

“At some point it had to arrive. It was a pass leaked to Cardona. I decided to foul him, I accidentally stepped on him and the referee gave me a yellow.”

Conor Laird | GSFN