Edin Terzic’s Athletic endure one of the club’s worst opening-day defeats this century | OneFootball

Edin Terzic’s reign at Athletic has begun poorly, the opening-day scoreline ranking among the club’s three worst of the century. El Correo notes comparable debuts were 3-5 against Betis in 2012-13 and 1-3 versus Almería in 2008-09, plus a 1-3 against Espanyol in 1997-98, the centenary season that ended as league runners-up.

In 2008-09, Joaquín Caparrós began his second year with an unexpected 1-3 at San Mamés to modest Almería after a week dominated by Aritz Aduriz’s sale to Mallorca, opposed by supporters and team-mates. Fran Yeste said before kick-off that the move hurt the team, and a banner at Lezama claimed the squad was incomplete and backed Aduriz.

Club messages soured the mood further. Caparrós fronted up, saying the fee would bolster the academy and help fund targets like Xabi Alonso and Mikel Arteta, though days later Athletic signed Mikel Balenziaga.

Almería led 2-0 by the break and struck a third four minutes after the restart. Athletic pulled one back, then Yeste missed a penalty that would have made it 2-3 with time left.

Four years on, in 2012-13, Marcelo Bielsa’s side opened still smarting from lost finals and mired in the Javi Martínez and Fernando Llorente sagas. Neither was selected as their wishes to join Bayern Munich and Juventus had emerged, both stayed away as fans protested at Lezama and graffiti targeted Llorente.

A fraught afternoon produced a 0-3 half-time deficit, an admirable fightback to 3-3 by minute 79, then a weary collapse to 3-5 amid defensive errors.

There is no comparable crisis behind Terzic’s start, only familiar defensive lapses linking Sunday’s reverse to those past setbacks. History counsels against overreaction, though. Since 2000-01, Athletic have won only five of 18 Liga curtain-raisers at San Mamés, drawing six and losing seven. When opening away and hosting in round two, which has happened nine times this century, they have three wins, two draws and four defeats.

Source: El Correo

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”