Athletic Bilbao Vs. Valencia: 1-2 Full Time, Los Che Comeback Secures Big Victory

It was a tough day at San Mames for Valencia, but despite being second best for good chunks of the game and falling behind to Athletic Bilbao early, Los Che engineered a great comeback victory to take all three points and solidify their third place standing in La Liga. They now hold an 11 point gap on the fifth place team and a Champions League place is now all but assured for them. For Athletic Bilbao, they are still in very good position to secure a Europa League place, but this loss may have ended all hopes at Champions League qualification for Los Leones.

Fernando Llorente scored the opener for Athletic Bilbao, assisted by Gaizka Toquero, who was probably the man of the match despite his team’s collapse. Toquero laid a low ball across the box to Llorente, who did well to hold off two defenders and muscle the ball into the back of the net from very close range. After 14 minutes, Bilbao had a lead.

For the entirety of the game, Valencia controlled possession, limiting Bilbao’s dangerous sequences to only counter-attacks and set pieces. However, they were very limited themselves in the number of good opportunities they had on goal. They were able to create some decent chances in the first half through Joaquin and Pablo Hernandez, but none turned into goals.

They finally found the net and started their comeback on the 71st minute, thanks to a great cross from Joaquin, who certainly challenged Toquero for man of the match honors. Juan Mata did well to beat his defender and finish off the chance, but most of the credit for the goal goes to Joaquin.

Los Che completed their comeback 10 minutes later, thanks to some poor defending and goalkeeping. Substitute Tino Costa ripped a shot from just outside the penalty area that Gorka Iraizoz failed to deal with properly, allowing an unmarked Jonas, another substitute, to run onto the ball and tap it into an open net, giving his team a 2-1 victory.

Valencia become just the fourth team to take points at San Mames this season, and on another day, they might have failed to do so. Athletic Bilbao put in a great effort, but the bounces didn’t fall their way at all in the second half.