Athletic Club looked keen to extend their unbeaten streak at the start of this La Liga season from the first whistle. The visiting Catlonians attempted to play some forward-thinking football, but the pressure from Los Leones was too much to cope with, and they were pinned into their own half for large stretches of the opening 45 minutes. All that was missing from the home side was the final pass to complete a flurry of well-worked moves. Alejandro Berenguer lashed his shot from a set-piece routine off of the crossbar with the final kick of the half, encapsulating Athletic Club’s first half frustrations.

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Los Periquitos capitalised on their first half luck and came out much stronger in the second period of play. Growing into the game, the visitors managed to put together some moves to threaten the Bilbao back-line, but much like their counterparts in the first half, the final bit of quality was lacking. Gorka Guruzeta looked to have the best chance to give the home side the lead with 10 minutes left, but his header from five yards out was flashed over the crossbar. Dramatically, Espanyol newcomer Martin Braithwaite (31) won the ball back in the attacking half, and stabbed the ball home with just over five minutes remaining, scoring on his debut for the club in style, and stealing all three points for the visitors in the dying minutes of the match.

With the dramatic winner, Espanyol won their first game of the season, and to compound their joy the result signals their first win at the San Memes after losing their last six, their worst stretch of results against one opponent since 1976.

Flashscore Man of the Match: Martin Braithwaite (RCD Espanyol)