Europa League

AZ Alkmaar 2 - Athletic Bilbao 1

Alkmaar: Coutinho; Johansson, Gouweleeuw, van der Linden, Haps; van Overeem, Rienstra, Dabney Souza (Haye 87’), Henriksen; Tankovic (Luckassen 76’), Janssen (Jahanbakhsh 78’). 4-4-2.
Athletic: Herrerín; Bóveda, Gurpegi, Laporte, Lekue; Mikel Rico, Iturraspe (Raúl García 63‘); Aketxe (Williams 57’), Eraso, Viguera; Kike Sola (Aduríz 63‘). 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
1-0. 55. Henriksen. Controlled long Rienstra pass and fired shot wide of Herrerín.
2-0. 65. Bóveda (own goal). Deflected Haps cross into own net trying to clear.
2-1. 75. Aduríz. Swept shot inside near top corner after Bóveda crossed from right.

Athletic Bilbao drop to second in their group after they were beaten 2-1 by AZ Alkmaar. Ernesto Valverde made no less than 10 changes from his line-up against Real Sociedad at the weekend, but even so they started well, Coutinho having to save from Kike Sola, Eraso and Aketxe. Rienstra hit the post however and Gurpegi had to clear another effort off the line, and soon after the restart Henriksen put the Dutch side ahead, steering a shot past Herrerín after picking up a long pass from Rienstra. Soon afterwards Bóveda deflected a Haps cross into his own net, and Valverde turned to Williams, Raúl García and Aduríz. With a quarter of an hour Aduríz got one back after Williams and Bóveda combined to set him up, but in the end they ran out of time to do much else.