Valencia beat Athletic Club to take a huge step towards LaLiga safety

[p]An aggressive and positive start from Valencia appeared to leave some of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ath-bilbao/IP5zl0cJ/"]Athletic[/a]’s players a little shellshocked, and it took a good 10 minutes for Los Leones to get into their stride.[/p][p]Even then, the pacey [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-nico/Cp7lcVjJ/"]Nico Williams[/a] found it difficult to get the better of his marker. The first shot of any note came via the boot of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sancet-ohian/hpZLKZVC/"]Oihan Sancet[/a], but the Athletic No.8 dragged his shot just wide.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/duro-hugo/EP4vWYSf/"]Hugo Duro[/a] was ploughing a lone furrow up front for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/valencia/CQeaytrD/"]Los Che[/a], and though the visitors weren’t threatening in an attacking sense, they were ensuring their hosts were being made to work for every ball.[/p][p]It was Duro, in fact, that earned Valencia a penalty against the run of play, after he was felled by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/berchiche-yuri/OCA7UnaC/"]Yuri Berchiche[/a], but when the striker stepped up to take it, he could only find the crossbar.[/p][p]With 10 minutes until half-time, Williams looked forlorn as his injury concerns continued, and he was immediately replaced by his brother Inaki.[/p][image alt="Match stats" id="72d6c02e-b4a3-4840-91ee-1797c585944c" credit-line="Opta by StatsPerform" guid="0a3c8e5c-93f1-4d22-8dcb-46e146013464" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]Some industry from both sides at the beginning of the second half saw a little more urgency; however, there was little in the way of actual goalmouth incidents.[/p][p]When Williams finally got clear of the Valencia back line, he could only find Stole [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/dimitrievski-stole/2axfsTHA/"]Dimitrievski[/a]’s gloves with his stinging on-target effort.[/p][p][b]The visitors took off Duro, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pepelu/nosv3azp/"]Pepelu[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lopez-noguerol-diego/SGjehmsG/"]Diego Lopez[/a] with 20 minutes to play, and immediately, two of the three replacements, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ramazani-largie/jgYkOsen/"]Largie Ramazani[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sadiq-umar/UsKF9Yzn/"]Umar Sadiq[/a], were part of a swift counter-attack that ended when the latter powered his header past a helpless [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/simon-unai/Ao9Vw3hi/"]Unai Simon[/a].[/b][/p][embed guid="7c5a51aa-8477-4a54-84b8-85a26bb06fde" url="https://x.com/LaLigaEN/status/2053506417772888475" social-type="twitter" /][p]As a result, the remainder of the game was much more open, though [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gaya-jose/xWguLPCU/"]Jose Gayà[/a]’s six tackles - more than any other player - was evidence that Valencia were holding on in the later stages.[/p][p]Los Che now sit in 12th place on 42 points after this victory, five points clear of the relegation zone.[/p][p]Athletic are still in the hunt for European football next season, but with three games left to play, they currently occupy ninth spot in the league, and are just outside the qualification places.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/dimitrievski-stole/2axfsTHA/"]Stole Dimitrievski[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/valencia/CQeaytrD/"]Valencia[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/ath-bilbao-IP5zl0cJ/valencia-CQeaytrD/summary/stats/?mid=UudYXw4C"]Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p][image alt="The LaLiga table" id="aa5150b3-fe81-47b5-b9b8-9876f8845d2b" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="40bb9852-c0fb-4314-86e0-d216ae54bf0b" original-width="1200" original-height="1200" /]