Athletic Club lose grip on Champions League progression against slippery Sporting CP | OneFootball

Athletic Club 2-3 Sporting CP

Ernesto Valverde commented ahead of their clash with Sporting CP, knowing they needed a win to make it to the play-off round, that if they had presented this scenario to them after the draw, they would have taken it. An improbable progression to knockout football was in their hands on two occasions, but Athletic found themselves wondering what might have been with some of their injured stars available again.

Athletic Club could not have hoped for a better start, with the early pressure at San Mames yielding a goal after just three minutes. Some neat interplay just inside the left side of the Sporting box allowed Oihan Sancet the yard he needed, and his strike was laser-guided into the corner to send the home crowd into a frenzy. Having struggled for the breaks at times, it must have frustrated Valverde to see his side give up their lead just 12 minutes in. A corner from the left side was powered back towards the near corner by Ousmane Diomande.

To their credit, Athletic did not wobble thereafter. Los Leones gradually got back on track, and the Portuguese side came under increasing pressure. It told after half an hour, with Gorka Guruzeta nicking the ball back in the Sporting half. He drove at goal, and when his shot back off the inside of the post, was smartest onto the rebound, finishing this time high into the corner. At that point, Athletic had a tricky task of maintaining their aggression, without over-committing.

Image via El Mundo

Sporting prove the lions with the bigger roar

The second half started off in reasonable fashion for Athletic without too much concern, but in the final half hour of the match, legs began to feel the effects of their efforts, as Sporting took the tempo up a notch. Just after the hour-mark, Geny Catamo found himself free at the back post, but could not make the right connection. If it was a warning, then Athletic did not heed it. Just moments later, Sporting came again, and after a lightning exchange on the edge of the box, Francisco Trincao sliced through the middle of the Athletic backline, and finished expertly past the onrushing Unai Simon.

By this point, Athletic were rocking, but with San Mames giving them all the support necessary, the Basque side recomposed themselves for one final assault in search of the winner. Athletic applied more pressure, and nearly snuck through on a couple of occasions in the final minutes, but the threat of Sporting remained a nagging concern in the back of Athletic minds. Adama Boiro was at full stretch when tackled Catamo on the right side of the box. An incensed San Mames released a sigh of tension after Felix Zwayer’s VAR review concluded Boiro had got the ball justly.

As Athletic threw players forward, in stoppage time, they were caught. Sporting knew a win would likely secure a top eight finish for themselves, and they raced forward in stoppage time. Luis Suarez got in behind and it looked like Simon had kept their European hopes alive with a sensational one-on-one save, but Alisson Costa, off the bench, picked up the rebound, and before the defence could react, fired low and hard into the hearts of the Athletic support.

Their final finishing position was a frustrating 29th, just a point outside of the play-off round, but they knew that a victory was necessary to overcome the goal difference which was against them. The absences of the two Williams brothers and Aymeric Laporte loomed large in this game, which was a ticket to revitalise what has been a tough season at San Mames. So often, their blunt attack has been the issue, but Guruzeta has five goals in Europe, and it was their backline, the bedrock of last season’s success that continues to hamper a side struggling to recognise itself in the mirror.