Athletic when playing in front of their home fans are a joy to watch, passing the ball around well and with huge ball recoveries in the opponents’ half. Their football is spawned from the boots of Raúl García and Iturraspe, before moving on to Willians or Muniain. In attack is Aduriz, one of the finest headers of the ball in the league. In the 7th minute, following a corner, Mikel San José rose highest to score the first goal, 1-0. Another game with an early goal let in. Just a minute later following another whirlwind attack Muniain scored the home team’s second goal, to make it 2-0, this time from a direct free kick. The start of the game was so intrepid that suddenly Pedro Bigas (min. 11) popped up to head home a corner from the right, to reduce the arrears.
Las Palmas’ fragile defence brought them further trouble in the 18th minute. Willians got in behind his marker and crossed perfectly for Aduriz, who at the second attempt, put the ball past Raúl Lizoain for his team’s third goal. For Athletic Club the game was like a cup final. Their chances of qualifying for European football required victory tonight. Las Palmas, meanwhile, seemed far too relaxed. Quique Setién’s team have virtually done their homework this year, by guaranteeing first division safety. Athletic Club de Bilbao made the most of this to push their rivals into the ground. Tana (min. 23) had a great chance to score his team’s second goal, following a one-two with Jonathan Viera. With Kepa beaten, it was the boot of De Marcos that deflected the ball past the post.
Las Palmas were suffering badly in their own area. Every ball that was crossed in was met with a shot or a header. Aduriz had a goal disallowed for offside, but Mikel San José, and the two bullets Williams and Muniain allowed other clear chances to go awry. In their trench style of football Athletic are quite an idiosyncratic team. In every 50-50 ball, in every anticipation, a huge red and white striped shirt came pounding in to get to the ball ahead of a timid Canarian challenge.
The second half started with a change in defence; David García came on for Lemos. Las Palmas continued to play in fits and starts. San Mamés did not get to see any fancy passing moves by the Canarians that home manager Ernesto Valverde feared so much. Athletic carried on in the same style. The pressured hard from attack when Bigas or Roque Mesa tried to bring the ball out of defence. Muniain and Aduriz added salt to the wounds of Setién’s team with half an hour still on the clock. With their self esteem clearly lacking, Las Palmas tried as hard as they could to not concede any more goals. Momo had a one on one against Kepa in the 76th minute, but he lofted the ball just over the crossbar. San Mamés gave an ovation for a brilliant save following a superb shot by Livaja that was destined for the top corner. The one positive of the match was the excellent behaviour of the nearly 400 Las Palmas fans who travelled to Bilbao to watch the match.
