Athletic made a convincing victory in San Mamés against a Rayo team that was outclassed from start to finish. After taking the lead on the scoreboard before the break, the Lions used Vallecano’s push to try to tie the score and seal a big win. Valverde’s team was deadly against the goals of their rivals.

The creative Grzeta opened the scoring with stunning goals from Iñaki Williams and Sunset. Paradoxically, Espino’s own goal made it 2-0 when the visiting team came closest to tying the score. The Williams brothers then played their part in rounding out the home victory with two well-scored goals.

Bilbao fans were able to celebrate Nico’s renewal in style. The Spanish team knew how to overcome this situation. Besides the goal itself, he left behind several trademarks.

Valverde intended to repeat the same eleven for the fourth year in a row, but an injury to Vesuga during the warm-up forced the introduction of Ander Herrera. They were forced to change and were practically honked at. San Mamés gave the new Nico Williams a standing ovation.

Francisco pulled the starting block just against Barça. The visiting coach introduced only two variations. Pate Sis replaced Trejo in a double pivot, while Álvaro García replaced De Frutos as a left-footed winger.

Athletic essentially controlled the first half from the kick-off. With calmness and cool judgment, the Lions gradually pushed back their opponent, who was barely able to penetrate the middle of the field. Indeed, their goalkeeper Dimitrievskiy hardly needed to intervene.

Grzeta’s goal was disallowed as Nico Williams was ruled offside by VAR, but Bilbao’s persistence paid off around the 23rd minute, when Oscar Valentin fell asleep playing the ball. , Iñaki Williams took the ball away from him and he took the ball away. He gave it to Sunset so she could place it in Grzeta’s own shoe. The San Sebastian native scored a goal, and this time his goal went on the scoreboard.

The tone of the game remained the same until half-time, despite a hint of coyness in the visitors’ response. The Lions won and had the upper hand, but without a clear goal. Unai Simone, on the other hand, was just a spectator.

Rayo, who started the second half without any substitutions, almost equalized just after half-time with a header from Unai López after two poor clearances from Unai Simon and Paredes. Instead of making it 1-1, Iñaki Williams’ attack immediately ended in Espino’s own goal.

The Lions fell back with a favorable score, took advantage of the visitors’ needs and took a step forward, including a triple simultaneous substitution, to complete a counterattack. Williams’ oldest player was first, then the youngest, increasing the lead on the scoreboard to four points with just over 20 minutes remaining. Valverde started on the bench from then on.

Athletic, who welcomed Yuri, Mouniain, Berenguer, Prados and Nolaskoain as new players, concentrated on biding their time against Rayo, who had Falcao up front and was aiming for Unai Simon’s goal.

[+] Check out our overview of the best plays in the game.