Athletic Bilbao defeated Atletico Madrid 2-1 in a game valid for the semi-final of the Spanish Supercup, played at the King Fahd stadium, in the capital of Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh. With the result, the Basque team qualifies for the final of the tournament and will face Real Madrid, who eliminated Barcelona this Wednesday.
Just 10 seconds into the game, Frenchman Thomas Lemar launched Portuguese João Félix, who received it inside the area and opened the scoring in favor of Atleti, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Atletico Madrid followed better in the match, creating the best opportunities, but without taking much danger. From an adjustment in the positioning of the defensive midfielder Dani García, who started to play more in the back, Athletic Bilbao began to have more control over the midfield and bring danger to Oblak’s goal.
The match was very balanced, but both teams had difficulties in attacking the opponent in a very tight game in the central area of the field.
The Basque team started the second half better, being more offensive and stopping Atletico Madrid’s attack attempts. However, Diego Simeone’s team opened the scoring in the 16th minute. The young João Félix headed the post, after a corner kick, the ball hit the back of goalkeeper Unai Simón and went into the goal.
With the partial elimination, Athletic went on the attack and, three minutes later, forced Oblak to make a great defense, however, the tie would not take long to arrive. At 32, defender Yeray took advantage of Muniain’s beautiful corner kick and headed into the back of the net.
Less than five minutes later, Nico Williams, just 19 years old, took advantage of the rebound given by the opposing defense and hit the left corner, turning the game around for Athletic Bilbao.
Not even the additions of Uruguayan Luis Suárez and Brazilian Matheus Cunha were enough for Atlético to reach the tie. Still in stoppage time, the team had defender José Giménez sent off after a tough start.
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