Besiktas JK

The Round of 16 will have to wait

Athletic suffer a heavy defeat, their first of the 2024/25 Europa League, against a rampant Besiktas side

Qualification for the Europa League last 16 will have to wait. Athletic must wait until Thursday to find out if the 16 points they have are enough or if they'll need a result from Viktoria Plzen's visit to Bilbao next week.

This tournament is tough and Besiktas hit the Lions hard with a 4-1 defeat in Istanbul.

Athletic scraped through the first half. The evening started with an emotional minute's silence before kick-off in tribute to the victims of the fire in Turkey, while the match also saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer make his debut as Besiktas coach.

Rashica scored the Turkish side's opener, but Unai Gomez levelled the scores in the 45th minute.

Ernesto Valverde's team were overrun in the second half. The game was played on a very bad pitch, to which the home side adapted much better. Julen Agirrezabala put off defeat as long as he could with his saves, but Besiktas kept coming forward.

Rashica, Rafa Silva and Joao Mario, with a penalty given by VAR in stoppage time, sealed the home side's win. A disappointing night for the Lions, but not one which should not tarnish this current European adventure.

To make matters worse, Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta suffered a muscular injury five minutes after coming on as a substitute.

A night to forget. Now it's time to focus on Leganés.