Athletic cruised to a comfortable 1-0 victory away at local rivals Racing Santander on Sunday afternoon. Coach Marcelo Bielsa rested his two key forwards ahead of Thursday night's Europa League semi-final against Sporting Lisbon with Fernando Llorente on the bench and Iker Muniain not even in the match squad. Gazika Toquero and Ibai Gomez came in to the side alongside centre-back Javi Martinez who returned to the side following suspension mid-week to replace Borja Ekiza. While the side looked a little less ruthless without Llorente on the field the return of Martinez ensured that they were more composed in possession.
The early lead was secured by Toquero, playing ahead of the rested Llorente, in the 12th minute of the match. An Ander Herrera through-ball slide between two Racing defenders and Toquero was on hand to slot past goalkeeper Mario Fernandez. The scoreline could easily have been 3-0 to the visitors at half-time as Toquero and Markel Susaeta were guilty of wasting simple chances. Just after the half hour mark, Toquero once again broke beyond the Sporting defence and rounded the goalkeeper only to step on the ball allowing the retreating defenders to clear the danger. Just moments later Susaeta got on the end of an Oscar De Marcos cross and was presented with a 3 yard tap-in but his weak attempt found the goalkeepers hands.
Racing appeared resigned to relegation and offered little going forwards and allowed Athletic to dominate possession. Irazioz, in the Athletic goal, was called upon occasionally in the first half but he was not truly tested until the 66th minute when he blocked a one-on-one effort from Lautaro Acosta. Racing's most dangerous player was often captain Pedro Munitis but although they had the better of the game in the second half they but failed to break down a stern Athletic defence. In the dying moments Racing's best chance of the game fell to Papa Dioup but his shot was too close to Irazioz who got down low to make the stop.
The biggest talking point of the game was over Bielsa's decision not to rest midfielder Ander who has been struggling for fitness recently. The Argentine also chose to bring on Llorente for the final 30 minutes despite the score being 1-0. The coach must now decide who will play instead of the suspended Oscar De Marcos on Thursday night. It is possible that Iker Muniain could be deployed through the middle with one of either David Lopez, Gaizka Toquero or most likely Ibai Gomez down the left hand side of his forward line as injuries and a small squad size limit the number of options in central midfield. All-in-all the victory over Racing was enough to put Los Leones up to 6th in the table, their highest position since victory of Manchester United in the Europa League, and the dreams of Champions League football remain an unlikely possibility.
Jack Dennison (@JPKD)
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