Athletic Club get first Champions League win of the season

Athletic Club 3-1 Qarabag

Athletic Club are on the board in the Champions League, having secured a comeback victory over Qarabag at San Mames.

Los Leones were defeated by Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund in their opening two matches in the league phase, so if they harboured any hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League, they needed to defeat their Azerbaijani opponents. But rather, they got off to a terrible start as poor defending allowed Leandro Andrade to score inside the opening minute.

Rather than go into their spell after that early blow, Athletic came out swinging, and they should have equalised soon after when Oihan Sancet was played in, but his effort was sent wide – much to the frustration of the home supporters. However, they had reason to celebrate before half time when Gorka Guruzeta fired home from Mikel Jauregizar’s delightful through ball.

With the score locked at 1-1 on the hour mark, Athletic head coach Ernesto Valverde turned to his bench, and it was from there that he got his inspiration. Robert Navarro, who came on for Nico Williams, cut inside the from left before firing an unstoppable effort into the far corner on 70 minutes.

That completed the comeback, and with minutes to go, the victory was secured by Guruzeta. Following a corner, he collected the ball on the edge of the Qarabag penalty area before firing a volley into the back of the net for his second of the evening, which allowed San Mames to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Athletic Club can take plenty of positives from this display

In truth, this was Athletic’s best attacking display of the season, which they can take positives from. However, there is still plenty of defensive vulnerability, and there is also the added negative of an injury to Inaki Williams, who was forced off in the first half after suffering with physical discomfort.