In the end, it's finished Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Atletico Madrid.
That's all we have for you from this game. Do join us again for the Real Madrid vs Eibar clash. See you in a couple of hours time. Until then, CIAO!
A brilliant game of football and the wait for Atletico Madrid to break into Top-4 continues. The opening goal was scored by Muniain in the 37th minutes and just two minutes later, Diego Costa scored the equaliser.
FULL-TIMEE!! The referee blows the long whistle and that's that. The honours and points have been shared and the home team will be the happier side today.
90+5' CORNER! Last opportunity for ATM. Yeray heads away the low drive from Correa. He clears the ball and that's that!!
90+2' WIDE! A powerful run from Saul sets up an opportunity for Correa, who drags the shot wide of the left upright.
90+1' Goal kick for ATM.
FIVE have been added to the second half. Now or never for Atletico Madrid. Bilbao, on the verge of holding on to a brilliant draw.
85' YELLOW CARD FOR I. MARTINEZ, who brings down with a poorly-timed slide tackle on Arias. Nothing comes off the free-kick.
83' Substitution for Athletic Bilbao- IN Unai Nunez, Oscar de Marco | OUT- Muniain, Yuri Berchiche
80' WHAT A SAVE! Unai Simon keep Bilbao in the game. He makes a mistake with a sloppy save from Arias' cross. He makes another save just in the nick of time. Corner for Atletico but notjing comes off it.
75' Substitution for Atletico Madrid- IN- Hector Herrera | OUT- Koke
15 minutes to go! Can Atletico find a winner somewhere and take all three points? We are in for an interesting finish.
76' Yeray is down! Time for the second-half cooling break. Thomas Lemar's free-kick hit Yeray directly on his chest. But he is fine now.
75' FREE-KICK!! In a very dangerous position for Atletico. Koke lays the ball to Thomas Lemar, who is brought down by a challenge from Raul Garcia. The home side players aren't happy and still contesting his decision. But we all know the decision will stay. Lemar blasts the spot kick into the wall and Unai Simon pouches the ball.
70' CORNER! Arias, this time, denies Williams with a sliding tackle that results in a Bilbao corner. Muniain takes corner but nothing comes off it.
68' Substitution for Atletico Madrid- IN- Angel Correa | OUT- Marcos Llorente.
67' BLOCK! Savic with a brilliant sliding tackle on Williams to save a potential goal in the left flank. Ball out for Bilbao throw-in.
A host of changes from both ends.
63' Substitution for Atletico Madrid- IN- Alvaro Morata, Santiago Arias, Thomas Lemar | OUT- Diego Costa, Trippier, Carrasco
63' Substitution for Athletic Club- IN- Mikel Vesga, Oihan Sancet | OUT- Unai Lopez, Cordoba
60' SIDE NETTING! Berchiche is freed up at the edge of the box on the left but he fluffed te opportunity by shooting directly at goal. Raul Garcia was in acres of space, waiting for Berchiche to cut back. Opportunity missed.
59' BLASTED OVER! Cordoba, who wasn't involved much in the first half, curls a cross from the left flank. The ball is too strong and falls to Raul Garcia on the right. But he shoots from distance only to see the ball fly into empty stands. Or should I say, virtually packed stands.
57' SAVE! Lodi with a cross into the box deep from the left flank but his inswinger is intercepted and pouched by Unai Simon. The Bilbao 'keeper playsit quickly to Muniain, who had a chance to break through but his poor first touch means he is dispossessed.
56' Too strong! Martinez, down the centre, sends a fierce through ball for Williams. But the latter was caught off guard and that's a goal kick to Atletico.
49' Gimenez has taken a bit of a blow to his lower back. Hurts himself while fighting for a header against Raul Garcia. He is back up soon after and play resumes.
The players are back out and let's get going with the second half. No half-time substitutions made by either teams.
A great first half comes to an end. The game started with Carrasco threatening the Bilbao goal and ATM enjoying early possession. After the 30-minute mark, it was all Bilbao. Muniain, Raul Garcia, Yeray and Inaki Williams looks dangerous from the flanks, including forcing a save off Oblak. Eventually, the pressure resulted in a goal by Muniain. But Atletico wasn't going to let the home team run away. Koke and Costa comined brilliantly to see the latter score the equaliser.
Two minutes added to the first half.
39' GOOALLLL!!!!! Diego Costa is back!!! He is back with the goal and the equaliser. Two minutes, two goals. Coming to the goal, Koke finds himself surrounded by two defenders right outside the box. He still manages to squeeze a quick pass to Costa, who beats the outside trap beautifully. He takes a first touch and beats Unai Simon with ease.
37' GOOOOALLLLL!! Muniain puts Athletic club ahead!! It was coming. The home team was knocking on the door and it has finally broken the deadlock. Its attacking passage of play has yielded results. Coming to the goal, Berchiche squares it to Muniain from the left flank and Muniain beats Oblak with a flick from the outside part of his foot.
36' THREATENING BALL! Once again, Muniain with a dangerous cross from the left. The ball falls to Capa, who tries to lay it to Raul Garcia on the right byut he found wrong-footed.
33' SAVEEE!! Jan Oblak with a sensational save . Driven in perfectly from the left flank by Muniain after the short corner. The cross is headed to the right post by Yeray Alvarez but when it comes to beating one of the best keepers in the world, the attempt has to be near perfect. Oblak flies to his left and parries the ball away.
33' Corner for Bilbao! Second for the game.
30' Here comes the cooling break on the half-hour mark. Teams are allowed up to three minutes. 70 seconds later, the game resumes!
27' BLOCKED! Muniain lays it to Williams on the right flanks and he drills a low cross into the box. But the ball is cleared away by Gimenez.
The momentum has slightly shifted towards Bilbao in the past five minutes. Three shots, one on target and the home team is looking dangerous from the right flank.
25' SAVE! Oblak involved in the game for the first time!! Capa, who has been the provider for Bilbao so often this season, drills a brilliant cross to near post from the right flank. Williams heads the ball towards goal but Oblak makes the save. That was the first shot on today.
22' CORNER! Carrasco wins a corner for Atletico. He goes into the box solo and has a crack at goal off his left foot. But the ball deflects off Capa. Carrasco takes a short corner but Bilbao defenders clear the ball out of harm's way.
20' BLAZED OVER! Muniain squares it to Berchiche, whose crack at goal from outside the box flies over goal.
19' FOUL! Carrasco brings down Muniain in the centre and Unai Lopez will take the free-kick. He flicks it to the far post but the ball is headed away for a Athletic throw-in by Gimenez.
16' An even start from both the teams. 52% possession to Atletico and just one attempt on goal. But Atletico has been been the more proactive of the two teams in these early minutes.
12' WIDEE!! Just wide! Llorente with a brilliant through ball to Carrasco down the centre. The Belgium player has space and pace. He beats Bilbao's 'keeper Unai Simon but the ball rolls wide of the left upright again. First real chance of the game!
11' First corner of the game It goes to Atletico's way. Trippier to take the spot kick after I. Martinez clears the attempted through ball from the back. Another corner for ATM after the first ball is cleared and this time, the low drive is dealt with again.
9' Yeray of Bilbao looks to set Williams free on the right wing, but his lob through is out of bounds.
6' WIDE! Gimenez's header off a long free-kick rolls wide of the left post.
6' Cleared! Carrasco, from the centre frees up Koke down the right wing, but his cut-back is cleared away by Dani Garcia.
FIFA meets real life football again. The computer generated graphics have a jam-packed stadium and the spectators cheering loudly.
3' FOUL! Lodi and Garcia with a clash in the right flank and it's a free-kick for Athletic Bilbao. Unai Lopez with the spot kick and the outswinger is cleared away by Koke. Throw-in to Athletic Club but nothing comes off it.
1' Early throw-in for Atletico in the left flank . But nothing comes off it.
THE MATCH IS NOW UNDERWAY
THE PLAYERS ARE OUT!
Football is back to Bilbao and the players have made their way out to the centre. Atletico is eying that top-4 finish and its bid to achieve so begins now!!!
A minute of silence for all the victims of COVID-19.
We are just 10 minutes from the kick-off.
Before that, we have got a quick question for you:
The line-ups have been announced!
Atheltic Club XI (4-2-3-1): Unai Simon, Capa, Yeray, I. Martinez, Yuri B., Dani Garcia, Unai Lopez, Muniain, Cordoba, Williams, Raul Garcia
Atletico Madrid XI (4-2-3-1): Oblak, Trippier, Gimenez, Savic, Lodi, Koke, Llorente, Thomas, Saul, Carrasco, Diego Costa
The stage is all set!!!
CURRENT POSITION IN TABLE:
Athletic Bilbao: 10th (27 matches, 9 wins, 10 draws, 8 losses) - 37 points
Atletico Madrid: 6th (27 matches, 11 wins, 12 draws, 4 losses) - 45 points
MATCH PREVIEW:
Football returns to Bilbao as the home team, Athletic Bilbao, prepares to take on Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid.
The main aim for Atletico Madrid will be to make its way back into the top-4 after the resumption. The Red and Whites are currently sixth in the table but have a fairly managable line of fixtures coming up.
On the other hand, the host is placed 10th. Before the season was halted due to the coronavirus, the team had won its last two matches. It beat Valladolid 4-1 right after beating Villarreal 1-0.
Atletico, however, is coming off a famous Champions League win against Liverpool. But due to its inconsistency in the league, it finds itself sixth. The team drew its previous to fixtures against Sevilla and Espanyol.
Even though Atletico has only lost four matches this season, second lowest after Real Madrid's three, it finds itself in a spot of bother due to a high number of drawn games (12). Moreover, scoring goals has been problem for the capital giants as well. Simeone's men have only scored 31 goals in 27 matches.
The teams last met in October, 29 when Atletico emerged 2-0 winners. There hasn't been a draw in this La Liga fixture since January, 2017. Bilbao has a good chance of doing so today.
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