Nico Williams maintains Athletic’s cruising speed in the Europa League

Nico Williams is pure gold for Athletic. The imbalance of the Euro Cup champion with Spain made the difference in a power-to-power duel against a great Slavia from Prague, capable of holding the pulse of the lions in San Mamés with the same weapons as their rival. The Czech team came further, scathing on the counterattack, but the path to the goal was only found by the youngest of the Williams, applauded by La Catedral after maintaining with his target the cruising speed of his team in the Europa League, with seven out of nine possible points.

Athletic, accustomed to bursting into matches with energy, found a Slavia team that followed this approach. The Czech team jumped onto the San Mamés grass in response, until they confined the lions to their own domain. His ambition put Agirrezabala in trouble, who was quick to deflect Michez’s shot. The Prague team redoubled their bet, with another peck on Diouf’s header, and confirmed that it was not going to be a peaceful night for Ernesto Valverde’s team, far from it.

Given the short circuit at the beginning of the play caused by an undefeated rival until now in the competition, Athletic used long balls in search of the Williams’ speed on the wings. The formula did not offer great returns this time. Little red and white presence in the Slavia area, beyond the sparks of Nico, until his older brother got oil from an isolated play, putting his body in to force a more than light penalty, which was ruined due to a previous foul by Guruzeta.

The action was a kind of bugle call for Athletic, capable of going one more gear to regularly step on the opponent’s field. The step forward was confirmed by the goal of Nico Williams, dizzying in his acceleration and dribbling and also lucky, as his long shot deflected off the body of a defender to end up kissing the Czech net.

Czech resistance

The most difficult thing seemed to have been done for Athletic, but Slavia far from collapsed. Once again the Basque team abused long balls and their rival surrounded the local area. Agirrezabala avoided a tie at the buzzer, with a worthy save against Michez’s attempt.

In case there was any unnecessary relaxation in Athletic, Slavia’s staging after the break took care of clearing it up. Doudera’s shot at the far post, deflected, was a warning that the Czech team had by no means signed the capitulation. Michez, once again the leading voice in attack, kept the lions in suspense, threatened again by a counter finish by Zmrzly.

The Prague team never lost face of the game, which introduced the giant Chory into the equation, a tower capable of putting Agirrezabala on the ropes with its aerial power. It was Slavia’s clearest chance for a draw that they managed to achieve in San Mamés, but it was prevented by the solidity of Athletic, driven by the vertigo of Nico Williams towards a worthy victory.