Athletic Club Bilbao advanced to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals on Thursday night, securing a 2-0 victory over Rangers and maintaining their perfect home record in the competition with six wins out of six. The Basque side reached their first European semi-final in 13 years after a hard-fought encounter.
Athletic Club started the match with intent, eager to break the deadlock early on. Oihan Sancet had a couple of opportunities in the opening minutes, but failed to capitalize.
The game’s first major talking point arrived midway through the first half when Rangers felt they should have had a penalty. Cyriel Dessers was seemingly pulled down in the box by Dani Vivian, with part of the Nigerian’s shirt visibly ripped. However, referee Irfan Peljto waved away the appeals, much to the frustration of the Rangers players and staff.
Despite the penalty claim, Barry Ferguson’s Rangers side absorbed a significant amount of pressure from the home team. Maroan Sannadi fired wide following intricate link-up play between Alex Berenguer and Oscar de Marcos. Berenguer then tried his own luck after being set up by Sancet, but his curling effort drifted just past the far post.
Sancet had a golden opportunity to break the deadlock in first-half stoppage time, but he blazed his shot over the bar from close range. However, just moments later, Athletic were awarded a penalty when Harry Souttar brought down Sannadi in the box. Sancet made amends for his earlier miss, calmly dispatching the spot-kick past Liam Kelly, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way right on the stroke of half-time.
Rangers suffered an early setback at the start of the second half as Leon Balogun was forced off through injury, compounding their woes after R?dvan Yilmaz had already been substituted before the interval.
Despite these setbacks, Ferguson’s men responded bravely and were agonizingly close to leveling the score when Nicolas Raskin’s shot cannoned off the post. The Glaswegian side enjoyed their best spell of the match, and De Marcos had to be alert to head behind a dangerous Vaclav Cerny cross aimed towards Dessers.
However, Athletic Club effectively extinguished any hopes of a Rangers comeback in the 80th minute. De Marcos delivered an excellent cross to the far post, where Nico Williams rose brilliantly to power a header past Kelly, sealing the victory for the home side.
Ernesto Valverde’s Athletic Club comfortably saw out the remaining minutes to book their place in the Europa League semi-finals. They now await the winner of the quarter-final tie between Manchester United and Olympique Lyonnais.
For Rangers, their European journey comes to an end. This defeat marks their fifth consecutive two-legged loss against Spanish opposition, leaving them to focus on their domestic ambitions. Athletic Club, meanwhile, can celebrate a deserved victory and look forward to the prospect of a European final.
