Athletic Club - Levante UD

Athletic Club defeated Levante UD 4-2 at San Mames on Sunday afternoon. The Lions started well but had to hold off a late fightback to win all three points.

Gorka Guruzeta, with a brace, Nico Serrano and Robert Navarro finished off the Granotas, who were forced to play with ten men when Alan Matturro was sent off early on.

It is a valuable victory for the Zurigorri, giving the team some breathing space in the table and a morale boost ahead of Wednesday's Copa semi-final.

Athletic threatened with a Serrano effort in the opening minutes, but the key moment of the match came in the 17th minute when Aitor Paredes sent Iñaki Williams through on goal and the no.9 was brought down by Matturro. The referee showed no hesitation in handing the visting defender a straight red card.  

The Lions profited from Gorka Guruzeta's cutting edge, as the striker took his season's tally to 11 goals. Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta set Guru up for his first goal with a brilliant cross which the no.11 headed home.

Five minutes later, Unai Simón played a clever ball to Iñaki Williams, who teed up Guruzeta in front of Matt Ryan. The in-form forward made no mistake with a low shot. 

The major downside of the evening was seeing Yuri forced off with a muscle injury in the first half.

After the restart, Athletic looked to get their third goal quickly, but Ryan came to the rescue.

First, he stopped Nico Williams from point-blank range and then denied Guruzeta a hat-trick with a superb save. The goalkeeper grew in confidence and also saved another goal-bound shot from Nico.

What no one expected was for Unai Elegezabal, a former Lezama academy player, to turn the match on its head by netting a bicycle-kick in the 80th minute,

Thankfully, Serrano made it 3-1 not long after, scoring a well-deserved goal with his right foot after some good work from Selton Sánchez and Adama Boiro.

Just as it looked like Athletic had sealed the win, Jon Ander Olasagasti scored a screamer in injury time to sharpen Zurigorri minds.

Hearts skipped another beat when Unai Simón rushed off his line and collided with Kervin Arriaga. The keeper avoided a red card as the Levante player had been offiside.

Iñaki Williams and Robert Navarro combined to quickly calm Athletic hearts in the 99th minute.

Now it's time to focus on the first leg of our Copa semi-final against Real Sociedad.