Athletic Bilbao Vs. Atletico Madrid, 2011 La Liga: Second-Half Goal Flurry Sees Athletic 3-0 Victors

What had seemed like a tense, nervy affair between Athletic Bilbao and visiting Atletico Madrid was put completely to rest in eight second-half minutes as the hosts put three goals past Thibaut Courtois in quick succession. Despite being billed as a fairly exciting clash between the genius of Marcelo Bielsa and a dangerous Atleti front line featuring Radamel Falcao, Arda Turan and Diego, before the goals it had been a bit dull, with Athletic dominating but without much to show for it and neither goalkeeper particularly troubled.

That all changed in an instant when a particularly pathetic close-range effort by Fernando Llorente was horribly deflected into the back of the net by defender Filipe Kasmirski for an own goal, dribbling past a scramling Courtois in what almost seemed like slow motion. Llorente's contribution five minutes later didn't have nearly the same comedic value but was rather prettier in football terms - a neat cross by Gaizka Toquero guided expertly into the bottom corner. Torquero would get himself on the scoresheet shortly thereafter after putting his head on the end of a free kick, and Athletic suddenly found themselves in total command. All that was left was to preserve the clean sheet; they did, and won 3-0.