Athletic Club beat Real Sociedad 2-1 at San Mamés on Sunday 1 November to end their rivals' run of four straight league wins. The visitors have formally disputed the first-half penalty that decided the derby, while Athletic lost another striker to injury.
Every goal in the Bilbao derby arrived before half-time.
Nico Williams provided the assist for the opening goal. Luka Sučić equalised on the half-hour. A crowd of 50,092 watched the game.
Before kick-off, Unai Simón presented his Yashin Trophy to the home crowd. A minute’s silence was also held for the victims of the Urda rail accident.
Real Sociedad dispute the penalty that settled the derby
The visitors left Bilbao angry about the decisive spot-kick. In its official match report, Real Sociedad called it a penalty that never was and criticised VAR for not stepping in. The club statement added that the chip inside the match ball shows Jon Aramburu made contact with the ball in his challenge on Nico Williams.
Pellegrino Matarazzo said that for him it was clearly not a penalty. The Real Sociedad coach could not understand why VAR had not intervened to cancel it. He was booked for dissent in the 65th minute, a minute after Mamadou Sarr received a yellow card for the same offence. Referee Alejandro Hernandez showed Real Sociedad four yellow cards in total, against two for Athletic.
The statistics point in two directions. Real Sociedad dominated the ball, completing 514 accurate passes to Athletic’s 307. Terzić’s side created the clearer chances, however. Unai Simón made four saves, while Álex Remiro made one. Sučić was the highest-rated player on the pitch at 7.52.
Athletic win but lose another striker
The victory came at a cost. Maroan Sannadi felt his hamstring early in the game. Athletic will need one or two more days to know how long he will be out. His injury follows Gorka Guruzeta’s serious knee injury at Valencia on 17 October, which left the squad short of strikers.
With 83 minutes on the pitch, Navarro created four key passes and was rated 7.2.
The win was Athletic’s third in a row across all competitions, after a 6-1 victory over Prat and a 4-0 win against Getafe. They sit seventh, two points behind Sevilla. Real Betis are four points clear of Real Sociedad.
Athletic also have a game in hand. Their matchday-eight fixture at Rayo Vallecano was suspended. Objects landed on the field during that game, among them paper planes and tiny balls made of silicone. Rayo were fined €6,000, the maximum sanction under the disciplinary code. The match will resume behind closed doors at Vallecas on Wednesday 9 December at 20:00.
Real Sociedad return to action first, hosting Lyon in the Europa League league phase on Thursday 5 November. Athletic travel to El Sadar to face Osasuna on matchday 12 on Saturday 7 November at 18:30.
Sources
- Un penalti inexistente derrota a la Real (Real Sociedad)
- Este jueves se ponen a la venta las entradas del encuentro ante el Athletic Club (CA Osasuna)
- Real Sociedad (UEFA)
- El Athletic se lleva el derbi vasco con un recital de Unai Simón y un polémico penalti (COPE (EFE))
