Europa League

Athletic Bilbao 3 – APOEL Nicosia 2

Athletic: Iraizoz; De Marcos, Yeray, Laporte, Balenziaga (Lekue 57’); Beñat, Iturraspe (San José 57’); Williams (Susaeta 77’), Raúl García, Muniain; Aduríz. 4-2-3-1.
APOEL: Waterman; Milanov, Merkis, Yamberé, Ioannou; Giannotas, Vinicius, Morais, Efrem (Aloneftis 73’); Bertoglio (De Camargo 59’), Pieros Soteriou (Asiz 77‘). 4-4-2.

Goals:
0-1. 35. Efrem. Ran on to Vinicius pass and curled shot wide of Iraizoz.
1-1. 37. Merkis (own goal). Header in off own bar from Balenziaga cross.
2-1. 60. Aduríz. Picked up Muniain pass and fired shot across Waterman.
3-1. 71. Williams. Glancing header across keeper from Raúl García centre.
3-2. 88. Giannotas. Collected return De Camargo pass to beat Iraizoz. Y

ellow cards: Efrem 08’, Merkis 12’, Raúl García 24’, Laporte 48’, Giannotas 52’, Yamberé 64’.

Athletic Bilbao still have work to do after a 3-2 victory over APOEL Nicosia on Thursday night. The Basque side dominated for most of the first half, but with ten minutes to go to the break the visitors scored with their first shot at goal, Efrem curling the ball past Iraizoz after Vinicius put him through. Two minutes later the locals were level when Merkis headed a wayward shot from Balenziaga in off his own crossbar, and after the restart Aduríz and Williams scored two more to give their team what looked like a comfortable lead. However Iraizoz had to push a De Camargo header against the post, and with two minutes to go Giannotas scored a second away goal for the Cypriot side. Athletic now need at least a draw in next week’s return leg to be sure of going through.