Europa League round-up: Athletic Club secure top 8 finish, Real Sociedad into play-offs | OneFootball

The league phase of the 2024-25 Europa League came to an end on Thursday, with Athletic Club and Real Sociedad both in action. The two Basque clubs needed victories to assure themselves of their best possible finishes in the standings, as they took on Viktoria Plzen and PAOK Thessaloniki respectively.

Athletic Club 2-1 Viktoria Plzen

Athletic Club bounced back from last week’s disappointing defeat to Besiktas, which was their first in the league phase, with a victory over Viktoria Plzen at San Mames. Ernesto Valverde’s side took the lead in the first half as Inaki Williams cut the ball across goal for younger brother Nico to score from close range.

Yeray Alvarez would double the lead just after the hour mark after heading home Alex Berenguer’s cross, and despite the deficit despite cut by Milan Havel, Los Leones score late on through Javi Marton to ensure their sixth win in eight Europa League matches. As such, they finish second in the league phase standings, thus booking their place in the last 16.

Yeray Alvarez scored Athletic Club’s second goal against Viktoria Plzen (Photo by Athletic Club)

Real Sociedad 2-0 PAOK

Real Sociedad end their league phase campaign on a high with a convincing victory at Reale Arena. Imanol Alguacil took the bold approach of resting several key players for the match, with the likes of Alex Remiro, Jon Aramburu, Luka Sucic, Takefusa Kubo and Mikel Oyarzabal all on the bench, but it paid off.

Orri Oskarsson, who has struggled since his big-money move from FC Kobenhavn last summer, headed home the opener after a cross from Sheraldo Becker, and he doubled his advantage in the second half after finishing from an Aritz Elostondo assist.

The result means that La Real have finished 13th in the league phase standings, meaning that they will be in play-off action next month. They will be drawn against AZ Alkmaar or FC Midtjylland, with the draw taking place on Friday afternoon.