Athletic Club 3-1 Napoli (4-2 agg): Mistakes cost the Partenopei Champions League place

Date: 27th August 2014 at 10:41pm
Written by:

Athletic Bilbao's forward Aritz Aduriz celebrates after scoring his second goal v NapoliNapoli were beaten 3-1 away against Athletic Club in the Champions League play-off round second leg at the San Mames in Bilbao.

Two goals from Athletic striker Aritz Aduriz and a controversial strike from subsitute Ibai Gomez were enough to see off the challange from the Naples club despite taking an early second half lead through Marek Hamsik.

After a scrappy opening period, it was the away side that created the first chance on seven minutes as a left wing deflected cross from Hamsik fell invitingly for Jose Callejon but his shot was fired high over the bar.

Not long after it was Napoli who again created a chance as an individual effort from Gonzalo Higuain from outside the box flew past Gorka Iraizoz in the Athletic goal but his shot went to the outside of his left hand post and wide.

It wasn’t until midway through the half that Athletic had their first clear chance of the game as a corner from Benet Exebarria found Carlos Gurpegi in the box but his free header went wide of Rafael’s goal.

Just minutes later Athletic had a glorious chance to open the scoring when a right wing cross from Iker Muniain found center-back Aymeric Laporte six-yards out with the goal at his mercy but somehow he managed to scoop the ball over the bar to the relief of the Napoli defense.

The home side continued to dominate possession but failed to create any more chances and it was Napoli who headed into the break the happier side.

It only took a minute into the second half for the deadlock to be broken, as Napoli took the lead with a superb left foot shot from Hamsik, after a Jorginho ball into the box was headed out straight into the path of the Slovak, who controlled it first time and fired it home to the delight of the small contingent of away fans.

But it didn’t take long for the home side to equalize as on 60 minutes again, poor defending from Napoli from a corner found Athletic striker Aduriz in acres of space in the box, and he side footed low into the net to the despair of Rafael in the Napoli goal.

Just minutes later, a long ball over the top from Oscar de Marcos was allowed to bounce outside the Napoli area, before a total mix up between Raul Albiol and Rafael gave Aduriz the easiest task of rolling it into an empty net.

Napoli were struggling to gain any control of the game at this stage, and on 73 minutes onc,e again a mistake in the away defense allowed substitute Gomez run on to a through-ball and slot it past Rafael. Aduriz was ruled not to be interfering with play after been in an offside position when the ball was played through.

The big target-man Adruiz should have made it a hat-trick on the night, as moments later a cross from Gomez was shot over the bar from three yards out and left the striker with his head in his hands.

No more chances were created and Athletic ran out deserve winners on the night and in the tie and head into the group stages of the Champions league while Napoli will have to contend with Europa League football.

 

Comments are closed.