The first few exchanges told Paco everything he needed to know.
Elche hadn't travelled to Paterna intending to match Valencia pass for pass. They had come with a plan, and every player in blue seemed to know it by heart.
Valencia built patiently from the back, with Vicent Abril rolling the ball to Carlos Alós before drifting back towards his goal. Carlos carried possession forward for a few strides, drawing Elche's first line of pressure, then found Gamón in midfield.
Normally, Gamón's first thought would have been to feed Álex between the lines.
He tried.
The pass reached its target, but the moment Álex received it, two Elche midfielders closed the gap with remarkable speed. One blocked the route towards goal while the other arrived from behind, forcing him to shield the ball before calmly laying it back into Gamón's path.
There was no applause from the crowd.
No gasp of excitement.
Just another completed pass.
Yet Paco nodded quietly to himself.
They've spent the whole week studying him.
Gamón looked across at Álex as play continued.
"So it's going to be like that."
Álex offered a faint smile.
"I think so."
There was no frustration in his voice.
Only acceptance.
---
Elche's shape was disciplined without becoming passive. Their front three pressed intelligently, angling their runs to prevent Valencia from playing through the middle, while the midfield remained compact enough to squeeze every metre of space around Álex.
For the opening ten minutes, the game resembled a chess match more than a football match.
Neither side committed too many players forward.
Neither side wanted to make the first mistake.
From the commentary booth, David Figueira watched the tactical battle unfold with growing interest.
"One thing stands out immediately," he said. "Whenever Castillo finds a pocket between midfield and defence, Elche send an extra player to help. They're refusing to leave him isolated against a single defender."
Fermín Suárez nodded.
"They're treating him differently after last weekend, and that's probably the biggest compliment a young footballer can receive. Hat tricks attract headlines. They also attract attention from opposition coaches."
The replay appeared on the monitor, showing Álex's first reception from another angle.
"Look at this," Fermín continued. "He only keeps the ball for a second, but both midfielders jump towards him. That's exactly what Elche wanted."
David smiled.
"And exactly what Valencia might be able to exploit."
---
Álex understood it as well.
Trying to force his way through the middle would only play into Elche's hands. Instead, he began making smaller adjustments that were almost impossible to notice from the stands.
Sometimes he drifted closer to Gamón, giving Valencia another passing option during the build-up.
Other times he moved towards the left, encouraging one of Elche's midfielders to follow him away from the centre.
None of those movements appeared in the statistics.
None of them earned applause.
But they slowly changed the picture on the pitch.
By the fifteenth minute, Hugo Guijarro was finding a little more room to receive because one blue shirt kept leaving his position to shadow Álex. A few minutes later, Mejía advanced down the right flank with far less pressure than before because Elche's midfield had shifted inside once again.
Paco folded his arms.
He had seen enough to know Álex had understood the problem.
Now he wanted to see whether the rest of the team would recognise the spaces opening around them.
---
Valencia's first real opportunity arrived midway through the half.
Gamón collected the ball inside his own half and resisted the temptation to play forward immediately. Instead, he exchanged passes with Hugo, inviting Elche's midfield to step higher before slipping the ball into Álex.
An Elche player closed from behind almost instantly.
Rather than trying to spin away, Álex cushioned the ball with the inside of his right foot and rolled it back into Gamón's path without even looking.
The return pass tempted another midfielder out of position.
That was all Gamón had been waiting for.
He switched play quickly towards Mejía, who suddenly found himself with open grass ahead of him. The full-back surged down the wing before delivering an early cross towards Johan.
Johan attacked it aggressively, but the Elche centre-back reached the ball a fraction earlier and headed it behind for a corner.
The chance drew warm applause from the home supporters.
As the players jogged into the penalty area, Johan pointed a thumb towards Álex.
"Good one."
Álex simply nodded.
He knew the move hadn't ended with his pass.
It had begun because of it.
---
Oluwaseun Reeves remained seated with his notebook resting on one knee.
Around him, conversations drifted through the stand.
"He's quiet today."
"They've stopped him."
"I expected more after last week."
Reeves listened without reacting.
He had heard similar comments hundreds of times before.
People often judged midfielders by what happened after they touched the ball.
Very few noticed what happened because they touched it.
His pen finally moved across the page.
Creates advantages before creating chances.
He underlined the sentence once before returning his attention to the pitch.
---
Elche reminded everyone they hadn't come merely to defend.
A misplaced pass from Valencia allowed their winger to burst down the left, and within seconds a dangerous cross curled into the penalty area.
Carlos rose well but couldn't clear it beyond the edge of the box.
The loose ball dropped invitingly for an Elche midfielder, whose first-time strike skipped through a crowd of players.
Abril reacted instinctively.
He threw himself low to his right and pushed the ball around the outside of the post with strong fingertips.
The crowd responded with appreciative applause.
Carlos jogged back and tapped his goalkeeper on the shoulder.
"I owe you one."
"You can repay me by not making me fly again," Abril replied with a grin.
Even in tense matches, football always found room for moments like that.
---
The save seemed to wake Valencia.
Their passing became sharper, their movement more confident.
Álex no longer searched for space simply to receive the ball. Instead, he moved with the intention of taking defenders somewhere they didn't need to be.
Once he drifted towards the touchline, dragging his marker so far out of position that Hugo found himself completely free in the centre circle.
Another time he dropped beside Gamón, inviting pressure before releasing the ball first time and allowing Carlos to stride into midfield unchallenged.
None of it looked spectacular.
That wasn't the point.
Football wasn't always won by the player everyone noticed.
Sometimes it belonged to the player quietly changing the picture for everyone else.
High above the pitch, Fermín smiled as another Valencia attack flowed through midfield.
"People who only watch the ball might think Castillo has disappeared today."
David looked at the replay before nodding slowly.
"I think he's more involved than he was last weekend."
"So do I."
Fermín leaned back in his chair.
"He's just telling the story without needing to be the main character."q