Athletic beats Atlético 3-0 in San Mamés with two goals after center kicks

Two center kicks, the one at the beginning of the second half and the one corresponding to Athletic's first goal, two goals conceded. In three disastrous minutes after the restart, Atlético suffered its first defeat of the season in a feverish San Mamés. Engage the continuous flow of the Edin Terzic proposal in La Catedral. It exploded with Nico Williams' header and Robert Navarro's tight thread after turning Grimaldo into a top with a cutback. Sancet, close to the version that led him to international status, closed the game in the last minute. A bit of the reacher that he is.

It was Hjulmand, soft in a cut on the wing, and Giuliano, with a loss in a delivery, who led to Athletic's two meteoric transitions from left to right that dismantled Atlético's midfield and defense. Two goals against after two center kicks are an unusual and squeaky bill in professional football. The two gifts ended a more than acceptable first half for Atlético and also for Athletic, who knew how to suffer when they were subdued. Terzic's set was not ruined when Kang-In Lee crashed a sharp right hand inside the base of the post, created quickly after jumping Yuri in a good transition. Another quick deployment from Atlético and a centered shot from Baena warmed Unai Simón's gloves.

Athletic endured the threatening staging of its rival. It was with Sancet's efforts that Terzic's team tried to say here I am. The thriving Gerenabarrena, Ruiz de Galarreta and Robert Navarro also made their team grow. It was the moment when Atlético was held between Llorente, Pubill to nullify Nico Williams and Hjulmand to balance.

The match was very physically demanding. With the two teams going to search and the referee letting them play in the struggles. The one who won the pressure was the one who stood in the opposite field. There, in the last meters, the lack of precision revealed that the game had more rhythm than finesse. There wasn't much depth on the sides either. Both Terzic and Simeone contained their wingers. It was the Argentine coach who was the first to make a move to make the game longer on the sides. He sent Barrios to the side to start superior attacks from there, giving Llorente a little more flight to go up. He seemed to want to relive the times when De Paul triangulated with the Madrid all-rounder and with Giuliano. This one broke little.

On the left there was hardly any news from Grimaldo and Lookman due to their blatant insistence on shifting the game to the right. There, a combination culminated in a slanted shot by Barrios that hit the post and the back of Unai Simón. With the air of having been superior in the first half, Atlético prepared to start the second. Terzic had to leave Yeray on the bench, concussed after a collision with the stony Hjulmand. Athletic did not forgive Atlético's soft exit. Not only because of the losses, but because of the ease with which Terzic's team executed what they do best, breaking into the race. From left to right he ran the ball to Iñaki Williams. His shot from the top of the area was deflected by an Atlético defender and his brother Nico took it head-first under Oblak's beard.

The sledgehammer turned into a sledgehammer with another meteoric counterattack that Robert Navarro finished off down the inside right hallway. Grimaldo turned outside and Athletic's sharp interior went inside to execute Oblak. With 2-0, Simeone ordered a quadruple change that included Julián Alvarez, back. Koke, Arnau and Cuti Romero also entered the scene. Atlético sought to close the gap. And it was Julián Alvarez who came closest to achieving it. He maneuvered well on the edge of the area and forced Unai Simón into a good handball with a low left foot shot.

Simeone's team did not find many more clear situations, very touched by those two goals as soon as they came from the center of the field. And finished off by Sancet when he had gone on the attack and provided the ideal scenario for what this Terzic Athletic team does best. Run and hit.