san josé leads athletic into europa league published: wednesday 10 december 2014, 23.01cet athletic club 2-0 fc bate borisov mikel san josé was on target for the third successive game as athletic booked a return to a competition they finished runners-up in two years ago.
• athletic win to seal third place and take uefa europa league spot ahead of bate • mikel san josé on target for the third successive game for the home side • bate set a new record for most group stage goals conceded • athletic reached the uefa europa league final in 2012 • round of 16 draw takes place in nyon at 12.00cet on 15 december
athletic club claimed a measure of revenge and the available uefa europa league berth with a convincing 2-0 group h victory at home to fc bate borisov.
eager to secure third in group h and a return to the uefa europa league having reached the final under marcelo bielsa in 2011/12, the first period was a monologue of athletic chances: ıbai gómez, mikel rico, ander ıturraspe, óscar de marcos and guillermo fernández all trying and failing to beat artem soroko in the bate net. mikel san josé's 47-minute opener brought relief, with the leones adding a second late on through markel susaeta to end their uefa champions league campaign on a high.
athletic had charged out of the blocks, determined to mask the bad taste of their 2-1 defeat by the belarusian title holders on matchday two and saturday's home loss to córdoba cf. gómez had efforts rebuffed by soroko and defender egor filipenko early on, setting a pattern that continued throughout the first half. ıturraspe headed over a fine andoni ıraola cross and de marcos drew a near-post save from soroko.
the opportunities came and went. fernández put a free header wide on 41 minutes after another superb centre from skipper ıraola, and seconds after the restart the young striker was again guilty – dawdling after being released by rico. san josé swiftly made ample amends, however, forcing the ball in after a corner from the outstanding susaeta.
withstanding a brief rally from the visitors led by vitali rodionov, athletic then looked likely to build on their advantage. they went close again through guillermo, the 21-year-old rocketing a left-foot drive off the inside of the post. there was also a dipping gómez free-kick before susaeta capped his fine showing with the 88th-minute clincher.
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