Arsenal felt the pressure of San Mamés, a unique stadium on a historical day: the return of the Athletic Club to the Champions Eleven years later. The rival was luxurious, one of the best in the Premier, semifinalist last year after eliminating the king from the competition, Real Madrid, but the first minutes had a clear local color. The Valverde team pressed, stole and arrived. The arteta had the ball, but he was choking. Several of the “Gunner” players know what it is to play in that field. Zubimendi and Mikel Merino have also done it in a derby, wearing the colors of the Royal Society, and they are aware that in the first minutes it is as if the public also played and we must resist. He Arsenal is also a strong leg set And little by little he was balancing forces, giving rise to a fantastic football match, although he lacked goals and even occasions. The clearest of the first half was Berenguer in a quick exit, after the fantastic filtered pass of Iñaki Williams, but the end crossed the ball too much.
It served that opportunity to spab from an Athletic Club that after that departure in Tromba was going through its most delicate moments, especially since Madueke began to receive with more space. The most dangerous pass of the attacker cleared him Gorosabel the guy playing. Gyokeres also began to appear, after a start in which he did not smell a ball.
He sent in the game the best pressed. At the beginning of the second part it was Arsenal who turned to the goal of Unai Simon, but the Basque team managed to turn the situation around. The meeting was made up of duels in the center of the field, divided balls, pure fight and see who was more powerful.
The English team did take advantage of what Spanish did not achieve in the first half. When Athletic Club was comfortable, he was hunted against a strange Touch more accurate from Trosssard for Martinelli to go out to the racebroke the offside and find the prize. The Brazilian had not broken. He had 36 seconds in the field and was the first action in which he participated.
The same players were also the protagonists of the second goal, in the game that remained a battle paid by Unai Gómez. The medium, pure heart, had entered shortly after the break and had to go ahead for a blow to the head with Mikel Merino where he left the worse stop. They changed Martinelli and Trosssard roles to solve the duel, with the great play of the first topped by the second. Mikel Arteta worked wonderfully. He has a huge template in his hands and has formed an uncomfortable group for which he wants to knock him down. After scoring the first goal he did not get back. He maintained the intensity to press up or to return, because how the “Gunner” team recovers when they exceed it. Athletic gave the face and physicist in a maximum demand encounter, but it was not enough.