Athletic won the duel of contenders in style against Villarreal, and is still there, in the second car of the championship, after an impeccable week, without blemish, after beating Rayo, Real and now its firmest pursuer in the fourth place, still with two games pending to play from the red and white perspective, which is ahead of the rest due to the Arab Super Cup.
2
Julen Agirrezabala, Dani Vivian, Aitor Paredes, Yuri Berchiche, Óscar De Marcos, Iñaki Williams (Nico Serrano, min. 84), Oihan Sancet, Beñat Prados (Mikel Jauregizar, min. 67), Íñigo Ruíz de Galarreta (Mikel Vesga, min. . 84), Alex Berenguer (Nico Williams, min. 59) and Gorka Cruzeta (Unai Gómez, min. 67)
0
Diego Conde (Luiz Júnior, min. 72), Juan Bernat, Logan Costa, Raúl Albiol, Kiko Femenía, Santi Comesaña, Álex Baena, Yeremy Pino (Denis Suárez, min. 74), Dani Parejo (Ayoze Pérez, min. 45) , Pape Gueye y Thierno Barry (Gerard Moreno, min. 45)
Goals
1-0 min. 14: Aitor Paredes. 2-0 min. 68:Williams
Referee Victor García Verdura
yellow cards
Comesaña (min. 34), O. Sancet (min. 54), Benat Prados (min. 67)
-In the middle of the downpour, Athletic and Villarreal played at getting wet, at stepping in all the puddles. They are two teams that speculate little, shooting for nothing, that look ahead and have enough quality to look at any opponent face to face. It was the people of Bilbao who took the initial command of the operations, with fierce pressure on the yellows’ release of the ball, leaving the engine room directed by Parejo little to think about. Berenguer, Williams, Sancet and Guruzeta pressed, and Prados and Galarreta gathered from behind, collecting what fell into the nets.
Villarreal was determined to fulfill its plan, and Athletic’s danger came in thefts, although the goal came from the corner, when Paredes headed a corner taken by Galarreta too comfortable at the near post. Diego Conde was not fine nor did they get the marks right. Before the quarter of an hour mark, Marcelino’s team had to start rowing, and they thought they were saved a little later after Pape Gueye’s cross shot beat Agirrezabala, but he was offside.
More spaces appeared for Athletic to run after stealing, and they arrived quickly at the opponent’s area, but they stayed on the last pass, although in the last stretch, the red-and-white pressure gave up a little and Villarreal stretched with more precision. Gueye appeared for a volley shot that went high, and Athletic’s temporary goalkeeper, Julen Arrizabalaga, was quick to deflect Yeremi’s header from very close range. They were the visitors’ best minutes in the first half, although the Bilbao team continued without losing face of the game.
Athletic took a long break at the beginning of the second half and Villarreal felt more comfortable on the San Mamés grass, very fast due to the rain. For a few minutes he took over the center of the field, and Comesaña had a header to equalize, but it went high. But if the visitors believed that this was the decline of the Bilbao forces after Wednesday’s intense fight against Madrid, they were wrong. It was just a pause, because they returned to the charge, to press fiercely and to tickle Villarreal’s ball movements.
Marcelino had left Parejo in the booth, to give bite to the attack, but the visiting midfield lost density, became more ethereal, and Athletic took advantage of it to push the submarine towards their field.
Valverde’s team was biting with all their might, and in one of those, a robbery in their own field ended at the feet of Sancet, who looked for the right moment to put the ball to Iñaki Williams, who this week celebrated ten years at Athletic , but still just as fast but much wiser. Upon entering the area, he shot hard, Diego Conde’s studs stuck in the grass and the ball slipped into the goal. The goalkeeper’s bad gesture ended in injury, and he had to be replaced.
Villarreal ran out of ideas in that action. He could no longer return to what he was, and Athletic played much fresher. Sancet was about to score the third when he stood up to Luiz Junior and tried a shot that went wide by centimeters. At that point, Gerard, who came out after the break, had already asked for a change after receiving a tremendous ball from a teammate that left him dizzy.
