Athletic suffered to win in Las Palmas when they least expected it, because sometimes a detail changes everything. After overwhelming the home team in the first half and going into the break with a two-goal lead, which could have been more, the expulsion of Jauregizar for bringing down Sandro when he was advancing towards the area, and the goal of the Canary Island striker in the subsequent action, gave the UD enough energy to harass Agirrezabala’s goal and to be close to equalising until the end. They were left without the prize, which given what happened in the first half would have been unfair, but given the display of the second half it seemed the most probable.
2
Jasper Cillessen, Marvin Park, Álex Suárez (Álex Muñoz, min. 45), Mika Mármol, Scott McKenna (Benito Ramírez, min. 76), José Campaña (Fabio González, min. 45), Sandro Ramírez, Alberto Moleiro, Kirian Rodríguez , Javi Muñoz (Fábio Silva, min. 62) and Oliver McBurnie (Jaime Mata, min. 76)
3
Julen Agirrezabala, Yuri Berchiche, Óscar De Marcos (Andoni Gorosabel, min. 76), Dani Vivian, Aitor Paredes, Nico Williams (Alex Berenguer, min. 70), Íñigo Ruíz de Galarreta (Beñat Prados, min. 58), Mikel Jauregizar , Iñaki Williams Arthuer, Oihan Sancet (Unai Gómez, min. 70) and Gorka Guruzeta (Mikel Vesga, min. 58)
Goals
0-1 min. 6: O. Sancet. 0-2 min. 29: Nico Williams. 1-2 min. 57: Sandro. 1-3 min. 75: Aitor Paredes. 2-3 min. 82: Alex Munoz
Referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias
Mikel Jauregizar (min. 21), Álex Suárez (min. 26), Ruiz de Galarreta (min. 46)
Red cards
Mikel Jauregizar (min. 55)
The more Nico Williams is talked about, the more his brother Iñaki appears, who is still there, maintaining his hierarchy in Athletic’s attacking game, despite the tinsel that adorns his brother and his obvious media projection. The three assists from the eldest of the saga were pure gold for Ernesto Valverde’s team. The first two to certify the absolute superiority of his team in the first half, and the third to get the red-and-whites out of the mess they had gotten themselves into, give them some breathing room and gain time until the final whistle. Right at the start, barely seven minutes had passed, Iñaki received a long pass from his colleague De Marcos, ran down the right wing as always, in Athletic’s first serious action and assisted in parallel. Guruzeta let the ball pass between his legs and Sancet, who had a colossal first half, had the coolness to control the ball in a palm of ground and beat Cillesen, to open the scoring.
Half an hour into Bilbao’s second goal, the Dutch goalkeeper was harassed by Williams on a long ball, and had to go outside the area and head it clear. The uncontrolled ball fell to Nico, who passed it to his brother, who passed it back to him so that the little one could make his debut this season with a shot that was just off the post.
Las Palmas did not appear in the first half and the first whistles were heard at the Gran Canaria, despite Moleiro’s efforts to get his team going and Sandro’s undaunted attitude. However, after Jauregizar was sent off and the Canarian striker’s miscalculation in the goal, they launched themselves fiercely into the game, but Iñaki Williams appeared again to touch back a pass from Berenguer in the second play from a corner. Paredes, who had gone up to finish off the corner, pushed it into the net. The goal cooled the atmosphere in the stadium for a while, but Las Palmas continued to harass Athletic’s area and Alex Muñoz still narrowed the score in a bad move by Agirrezabala. There were many minutes left and the red-and-whites suffered until the end in a game that ended up being very long for them.
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