In the 187th encounter between two decorated giants of Spanish football, the hosts began the contest looking inspired, after Athletic luminary Iker Muniain was presented with decorations after having made his 500th club appearance for the club against RCD Mallorca. Meanwhile, Valencia were dealt a considerable blow when the influential Hugo Duro was forced off with an excruciating injury shortly before the quarter-hour mark.
Looking to build upon nine victories at the Estadio San Mamés throughout the 2021/22 La Liga campaign, Athletic resumed where they left off in the opening embers of the contest, as Los Che goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili was kept continuously on his toes. However, the Georgian international was helpless in preventing Ernesto Valverde’s side from deservingly taking the lead two minutes before HT, when Álex Berenguer celebrated bringing up a century of top-flight appearances by perfectly finding the diminishing gap at Mamardashvili’s near-post.
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After conceding more goals than only defending La Liga champions Real Madrid and UEFA Champions League qualifiers Sevilla last season, the hosts continued to turn the best form of defence into an unrelenting plethora of goalscoring opportunities at the beginning of the second half. After Samu Castillejo had fired inches wide of the right-hand post, Gennaro Gattuso decided to roll the substitution dice, introducing on-loan Barcelona wonderkid Nico González and Toni Lato into the fray.
Even with alterations to his side, the hosts remained relatively untroubled by their underwhelming visitors in the concluding stages of the contest, seeing out Valverde’s first victory since his reappointment for a third tenure in the Athletic hot seat. Meanwhile, Los Che's dry spell continues, with just two wins from their previous 12 matches across all competitions.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Álex Berenguer (Athletic Bilbao)
