Athletic props itself up with a comeback in one minute (1-2)

Athletic Club propped itself up in the Europa League table with a comeback in one minute in the second half, with goals from Iñaki Williams and the young Nico Serrano, against the Bulgarian Ludogorets in the town of Razgrad (1-2).

With this victory, Athletic, which has 10 points out of a possible 12, moves up to third place in the standings, a number that is expected to qualify for the next round, having only played the first half of the first phase.

The Brazilian Erick Marcus opened the scoring in the first half, with a powerful shot from the edge of the area after a rebound from a corner, and the elder Williams and the young Serrano came back, scoring in the 73rd and 74th minutes a cross from Oscar de Marcos and ending a counter mounted by Unai Gómez, which was key in the match.

A high shot from Nico 15 seconds into the game seemed to advance good things for Athletic. But it was not like that in the first half because, although Ernesto Valverde’s men arrived on more occasions, Ludogorets gave a greater sense of danger.

Even with this, the first scoring opportunities were for the red and white, in which Iñaki Williams was not fine. First to connect, as he has done before, a cross from his brother’s baseline; and then to react at the far post to a corner from Berenguer that had surpassed the local goal and defense.

The eldest Williams forgave and in the next play the Bulgarian team opened the scoring. He did it after another corner was taken, with an impressive shot from the edge of Erick after Yuri’s rejection of the corner kick.

Ludogorets scored a second goal, but did so in a clear offside play by Rwan Cruz before giving up his compatriot Rick to beat Agirrezabala with a soft chip.

Coming to half-time, Berenguer, the most active of his team until then, sought to beat Padt with a direct free kick, but the Dutch goalkeeper responded by clearing a corner in what was supposed to have been 2-0. A local counter after the loss of Gorosabel that Erick crossed too far facing Agirrezabala.

The outcome of the clash did not change upon returning to the locker room, since Duha once again threatened to make it 2-0 with a ball behind the Athletic defense in which Vivián rushed him and Julen ended up solving it by coming out, although a little late, with authority.

Seeing how things were going, Valverde decided on a triple change that his team was crying out for, especially for the unfortunate Gorosabel and Djaló.

Things seemed to change with Yuri again testing an always firm Padt, but the next clear chance was Bulgarian. Another one from Duah, who decided not to shoot the first time and on the second he hit Paredes’ head.

Athletic’s dominance intensified, Nico began to appear, and two shots from the front by Yuri and Unai Gómez, key in his entry onto the field, gave Ludogorets what was coming.

Which was Bilbao’s comeback in one minute with two lessons in control and shooting from Iñaki Williams and the young Nico Serrano.

Iñaki made up for the missed chances in the first half with oriented control and a hard shot that rewarded the umpteenth assist given to him by Oscar de Marcos. Serrano caressed the ball that Unai Gómez passed to him, cut back to find the angle and shot with the fortune that the ball hit Son to make it even more impossible for Padt to stop.

Athletic was still able to score the third on occasions from Herrera and a double after a corner from Paredes and Williams; although Ludogorets was also able to tie with a shot from Gusev that hit Yuri’s body before a small final fight as a result of a hard tackle by Serrano on Rwan Cruz.