Valencia Stops Athletic Bilbao's Unbeaten Record

Valencia player Hugo Duro celebrated the game against Athletic Club Bilbao. (valenciacf_en)

JAKARTA - Valencia stopped Athletic Bilbao's unbeaten record. In the Spanish La Liga duel at the Mestalla Stadium, Sunday, January 21, 2024, early morning WIB, Valencia beat Athletic 1-0.

Athletic's brilliant record ended already. This is Athletic's first defeat after 14 matches have never lost in various competitions.

Athletic last failed to score points on October 23, 2023. At that time, they could not stop Barcelona and finally gave up with a narrow score of 1-0 in La Liga competition.

This impressive achievement made Zuri-gorriak soar to third place with 41 points. Moreover, Athletic has the capital of local players or around the Basque area.

Only one foreign player, namely striker Inaki Williamas who defended Athletic. Against Valencia, they fully relied on local players because Williams was defending Ghana in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

But the team with local player material can penetrate the top three. They not only shift Atletico Madrid, but also Barca.

Incidentally, two Athletic competitors are currently playing in the Spanish Super Cup. They can still shift Athletic for keeping the remaining two matches.

The defeat to Valencia also made Athletic fail to move away from its two competitors. Barca and Athletic have the same points. However,kolo Valverde's team are still ahead on goal difference so they occupy positions below Girona and Real Madrid.

Meanwhile, Valencia managed to move up the rankings. Now, Los Che ang recorded four consecutive wins in seventh place with 32 points. Similar to Real Sociedad, but Valencia still lost the goal difference.

In the match against Athletic itself, Valencia faced a very strong defense. The strength of the defense that goalkeeper Unai Simon was the key to achieving impressive Athletic.

Simon's goal conceded only once in the previous nine matches. But his goal was finally conceded after Hugo Duro beat Yuri Muchche when he jumped to greet Jose Gaya's cross. Duro's strong header broke into Athletic's goal in the 61st minute. This is Duro's ninth goal of the season.

"This is a difficult match because Athletic has a good performance. But this is Mestalla and we always play well here because of the support from supporters," said Duro.

Athleti is not a tana chance in that match. Motivated by the duet of Nico Williams and Oihan Sancet, Athletic was able to trouble the host's defense. Athletic's best chance to equalize the score was obtained by Unai Gomez in the 79th minute. However, Giorgi Mamardashvili could still thwart his shot.

"We control the game. But every chance we can't turn into a goal," Valverde said. "We got one good chance. They also only got one chance, but Hugo Duro was able to make a difference," he said.

After this match, Athletic met Barcelona in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals. The match was held at Athletic home at the San Mames Barria Stadium, Bilbao, January 25, 2024, early morning WIB.