A story of second-half goals and wins at the Bernabéu
A story of second-half goals and wins at the Bernabéu
Athletic only scored second-half goals during their last three victories at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu: 1995-96, 1998-99 and 2004-2005
This Tuesday, December 15 (kick-off, 22:00 CET), Athletic Club visit Real Madrid for their LaLiga Santander Matchday 19 fixture. It will take place in the Estadio Alfredo Dí Stefano, where Madrid have been playing their home matches since LaLiga resumed after the initial COVID-19 outbreak. Furthemore, the match has been rescheduled, being brought forward due to both sides participating in the Spanish Super Cup in January.
This will be the 90th league fixture in Madrid between two of LaLiga’s eternal rivals, the first one being played all the way back in 1928. The lions have been victorious 13 times and drawn 17 times on their LaLiga trips down to the Spanish capital city.
The last three times Athletic beat Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu in LaLiga, all the goals came in the second half. We have to go back 15 years to February 19, 2005, to find Athletic’s last LaLiga win against Real Madrid outside of Bilbao. On that occasion, the lions won 0-2 thanks to a couple of second-half goals.
Asier del Horno scored a powerful header in the 58th minute after outjumping the Madrid defence to meet Pablo Orbaiz‘s cross from the right. Andoni Iraola sealed the win in the 74th minute, calmly slotting the ball passed Iker Casillas after being put through on goal by Santi Ezquerro.
The previous win over Los Blancos came in the 1998-99 season. Ezquerro hit a belter from the edge of the box in the 72nd minute to see the lions take home the three points.
In 1995-95, Athletic staged a last-ten-minute comeback to bring the three points back to Bilbao. A Raúl goal saw Athletic Club go 1-0 down, but Joseba Etxeberra equalised in the 79th minute and Kuko Ziganda scored the winner ten minutes later.
While Athletic scored in the first half of their 2-4 win in 1986-87, this victory did also came off the back of a great second-half performance. Hugo Sánchez had put Real Madrid 2-0 ahead after the first 16 minutes, but Endika pulled one back just before half-time.
Athletic were resurgent after the restart, Endika doubled his tally in the 69th minute, Genar Andrinua‘s goal in the 79th minute saw the lions take the lead and José Ramón Gallego completed the rout in the 83rd minute.