Athletic Bilbao Created A Masterpiece Of Timewasting Against Barcelona
Bilbao were up against Barca in the Copa del Rey and were leading thanks to Iker Muniain's extra time penalty but needed to see out the win.
Athletic Bilbao stars Inaki Williams and Iker Muniain put on a superb display of time wasting, as Bilbao defeated Barcelona in the Copa del Rey.
Fresh off defeating Atletico Madrid in the Supercopa last week, before losing the final to Real Madrid, Bilbao were in the mood to knock another La Liga giant out of a cup competition on Thursday night.
After Inigo Martinez's 85th minute goal put them 2-1 up, it looked like they would be headed through to the quarter finals with no problems at all.
Pedri's 93rd minute goal forced extra time, before Muniain scored from the penalty spot in injury time in the first period of the added 30 minutes sealed the win for Bilbao.
Just before the ref blew his whistle to signal the end of the game, Williams and Muniain managed one last show of their skills, with some brilliant time wasting.
Perhaps 'wasting' is unfair, as the two forwards majestically kept the ball away from Barca subs Frenkie de Jong and Nico Gonzalez, even forcing a foul from one of the visiting players.
Muniain had opened the scoring for Marcelino's team in just the second minute, after Williams' younger brother Nico, who Inaki recently stood up for after a nasty challenge, had crossed the ball into the box.
Barca got level after just 20 minutes, and Xavi would have been particularly pleased that new boy Ferran Torres was the goalscorer.
The former Manchester City forward was criticised on his debut but curled a nice finish beyond Julen Agirrezabala.
Martinez must have thought he'd won it in normal time, with just five minutes left, after bundling home Muniain's free kick, but it wasn't to be.
Pedri blasted home deep in injury time, thanks to Dani Alves acrobatic bicycle kick pass, that landed in the centre of the area for the Spain midfielder to finish.
Jordi Alba then gave away the penalty in the final minute of the first half in extra time and Muniain expertly put away the resulting spot kick.
To add salt to the wound of going out of the cup, Barcelona also saw Ansu Fati go off injured, having come on as a second half substitute.
Featured Image Credit: ESPNTopics: La Liga, Copa Del Rey, Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona
Ryan Sidle