He Athletic Club Chains its third consecutive victory in the Europa League after winning 1-2 on its visit to Ludogoretscoming back midway through the second half with two practically consecutive goals from Iñaki Williams and Nico Serrano.
At the Huvepharma Arena in Razgrad, The first dangerous chance came from the Bilbao team at 20 minutesin a corner taken by Álex Berenguer and that Inaki Williams He failed to finish without opposition in the small area. However, in another corner the Bulgarian response came immediately.
Yuri Berchiche cleared his header and the ball reached the feet of Erick Marcus, who from outside the area executed an early bouncing volley that turned into a missile straight into the net. Although Deroy Duarte had initially been called offside, the main referee corrected the linesman and awarded the score 1-0 after reviewing the VAR.
The insistence of Nico Williams from the extreme left was not paying off and the bad news for Athletic could have been even worse after half an hour of the match, when Rick had a goal disallowed for offside previous in the position of a partner.
With the scare saved, the ‘lions’ managed to equalize with a direct free kick from the edge of the area and in which the local goalkeeper, Sergio Padt, repelled Berenguer’s shot well. But the last clear opportunity to score before the break belonged to Ludogorets, although Erick Marcus sent a shot wide of the near post.
At the beginning of the second part, Julen Agirrezabala became the protagonist of Athletic with his stopsespecially after a shot by Kwadwo Duah in the 62nd minute. After Ernesto Valverde made several substitutions, His pupils reacted in time and scored 1-1 and 1-2 with just one minute of difference (73′ and 74′).
The first visitor goal was the work of Iñaki Williams after escaping Dinis Almeida, outlining himself while controlling an Óscar de Marcos center until completing said maneuver with a powerful right hand. Without delay, Unai Gómez rode on a counterattack and opened on the right wing, where Serrano cut back and scored with a left footed shot to the far post..
That shot grazed the back of Francisco ‘Son’ Hidalgo, modifying the trajectory of the ball just enough to prevent it from reaching the goalkeeper. This result, which did not change despite a push from the locals, helped Athletic add 10 points and get closer to the next phase; Ludogorets, meanwhile, was very low with just one point.
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