Athletic Club - Real Madrid

Athletic Club lost 0-2 against Real Madrid in their opening match of the season, with Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham scoring the visitors' goals in the first half. 

Los Rojiblancos lined up with ten Lezama academy graduates in their starting XI, the only exception being Oscar de Marcos, who came to Athletic as 20-year-old and was making his 500th appearance as a Lion this evening.

Los Leones started strong, but it did not take long for Carlo Ancelotti's team to impose themselves. David Alaba threatened and then Rodrygo scored with a sharp shot inside the box.

The blow left Athletic feeling groggy and Unai Simon was called upon to deny Alaba and Vinicius. Bellingham got Madrid's second with a lobbed volley in the box from a corner.

Athletic looked to respond quickly, debutant Unai Gomez testing Andriy Lunin while being chopped down in the box by Militao. Anywhere else on the pitch and it would have been a foul. The referee Jesus Gil Manzano and VAR both ignored it.

Ernesto Valverde brought on Oihan Sancet, Alex Berenguer and Gorka Guruzeta at half-time in search of a miracle. Later on Ander Herrera also come on, as did Imanol García de Albeniz, who showed his talent on his official debut.

Five minutes after the restart, Real Madrid's Militao slipped on the San Mames surface and seemed to suffer a serious knee injury. The defender was applauded by the spectators as he limped off the pitch.

Athletic pulled themselves together and stepped up a gear. Sancet and Berenguer went for goal but couldn't find their way past a white wall and Aitor Paredes missed the target with a header. Simon was hardly troubled, only having to deal with a Vinicius shot.

Athletic were unable to pull one back, but the final result was a fair one. The season is long and now it's time to pick ourselves up before next week's trip to El Sadar.