Villarreal come away with a draw from their visit to Athletic thanks to a great goal by Trigueros
A good point. Villarreal continue to pick up points as they draw against Athletic Club Bilbao (1-1) at a tough stadium to go to: the San Mamés. The Yellows defended their lead right until the end after they went ahead early on through a Trigueros goal, but Aduriz equalised towards the end and that’s how the clash finished.
As they always do, Athletic came out quick, intense and strong, the red-and-whites creating some clear chances for themselves in the opening minutes.
However, in the 18th minute it was Jaume Costa who got into the box and was brought down by Iturraspe. The referee pointed to the penalty spot with no hesitation. Trigueros stepped up to take the spot kick, but the home goalkeeper, Kepa, made a fine save to keep Athletic in the game.
After the missed penalty kick, the Yellows piled on the pressure. Calleja’s side battled hard in the middle and regained control of the possession. Then, on the half an hour mark, they broke the deadlock (0-1).
The play that resulted in the opening goal started at the feet of Fornals. The tireless, Castellón-born midfielder, played the ball out wide to Mario on the right wing, who then found Trigueros on the edge of the box with a driven ball in. The Yellow number 14 made no mistake, hitting a screamer of a shot into Kepa’s bottom left corner. What a way to redeem himself.
In the second half, Villarreal tried to put the game to bed, keeping the ball away from the home side and looking for an opening to sentence the match. However, Athletic had other ideas. Twenty minutes from time, in the 76th, Aduriz equalised with his head, Barbosa unable to do anything about it. A point apiece.
Lineups:
- Athletic Club: Kepa; Lekue; Unai Núñez, Laporte, Balenciaga; Williams, Iturraspe, San José (Mikel Rico, m. 54), Córdoba (Susaeta, m. 54), Raúl García (Aketxe, m. 70); and Aduriz.
- Villarreal: Barbosa; Mario, Bonera, Víctor Ruiz, Jaume Costa; Rodrigo, Soriano (Cheryshev, m. 74), Trigueros, Fornals; Bacca (Sansone, m. 69) and Bakambu (Raba, m. 85).
- Referee: David Medié Jiménez (Catalonia, Spain). Cautioned: Bonera (m. 5), Jaume Costa (m. 33), Víctor Ruiz (m. 61) for Villarreal, and Iturraspe (m. 17) for Athletic.
- Goals: 0-1. Min. 27: Trigueros. 1-1, min. 76: Aduriz.
- Match Information: Match corresponding to Matchday 12 of the La Liga Santander between Athletic Club and Villarreal CF played at the Estadio San Mamés in Bilbao in front of 36,666 spectators.
