Athletic Club

Athletic's struggle in loss against Villarreal

The Lions conceded two goals in the first half. Guruzeta pulling one back late on but there's was no time for an equaliser

Athletic Club remain stuck in 11th place in the LaLiga standings after suffering a 1-2 defeat to Villarreal CF.

LaLiga's Retro Matchday failed to provide a boost for the Lions, who paid dearly for their first-half mistakes.

Sergi Cardona opened the scoring after Marcelino's side broke through Athletic's high press before an individual error that put Alfon through one-on-one with Unai Simón left the match looking very bleak going into the second half.

Gorka Guruzeta pulled one back with seven minutes to go. The Lions gave their all to equalise and left the pitch incensed when no foul was called after Aymeric Laporte was brought down in the box in injury time.

It was a rain-soaked encounter in which Villarreal demonstrated the threat they pose up front, with Gerard Moreno and Pape Gueye in fine form.

Athletic threatened, with Nico Williams particularly active in attack, but also needed to call upon Simón, who denied Gueye with a superb save early on.

The home side’s clearest chances in the opening period came via Yuri Berchiche, who was as intense as ever.

Villarreal's first goal came in the 25th minute, following a pinpoint build-up from deep that saw the visitors break through the lines until reaching Tajon Buchanan, who teed up Cardona to score.

Athletic's players, frustrated and angry, had two chance to equalise within a minute: a Yuri ghost goal which seemed to have gone in but had hit the side netting and a Mikel Jauregizar effort that went just wide of the post.

Simón made another save from a Gerard Moreno header, and as half-time approached, Alfon capitalised on a defensive error to make the score 0-2.

Athletic moved the ball better and won plenty of corners in the second half, but they didn’t pose much of a threat until a fine move involving Robert Navarro, Yuri and Guruzeta which saw the latter slot home from close range.

San Mamés believed until the very end. Pepé had a goal ruled out for offside, and then came Laporte’s penalty shout, where the most frustrating aspect was the referee’s reluctance to even consult VAR.

We're running out of margin for errors. It’s time to bounce back as soon as possible. In nine days’ time we have a crucial derby against CA Osasuna in Bilbao.