Group L Europa League Round-Up: Athletic Bilbao Close The Gap On Werder Bremen
Athletic Bilbao took advantage of Werder Bremen letting a two goal lead slip away to Austria Wien to close the gap at the top of Group L to just one point. Athletic are now on six points thanks to a 2-1 win against Nacional.
Austria Wien 2-2 Werder Bremen - Lineups & Stats
Europa League Standings, Fixtures & Results
The Basque side fought back from a goal down to win the match after the Portuguese outfit from the holiday island of Madeira took the lead in the first half thanks to a strike from Ruben Micael on 41 minutes.
Bilbao came back into the tie thanks to a goal from winger Joseba Etxeberria, and the victory was confirmed when striker Fernando Llorente pounced to make it 2-1 on 86 minutes. The win puts Bilbao to six points in the group and after Werder’s failure to claim all three points slashes the lead at the top to just a single point at the halfway point of the group.
Werder were left to curse their defensive frailties after former Chelsea striker Claudio Pizarro had given Thomas Schaaf’s men a 2-0 lead with goals on either side of the break.
The Austrian side weren’t to be denied a share of the spoils though as Emin Sulimani and Schumacher grabbed late goals to equalise.
The draw sees Austria Wien now some four points off second place and still without a win despite having played some good football.
Nacional for all their efforts find themselves bottom of the pile with just one point to their credit and with a lot of work if they are to extend their European campaign beyond Christmas.
Walter Townsend, Goal.com
Hosted by Stephen Crawford & Adam Scime
We've had two tremendous matches today, so lets hope the intensity keeps up in the next clashes!
Until next time, this is LIVE commentator Stephen Crawford signing off.
From everyone here at Goal.com, thanks for joining us!
Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, who felt his side deserved a point from the game.
"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.
"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.
"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."
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“The score made it look like it was an easy game, but it certainly wasn't.
(Strange... it looked pretty easy from where I was sitting, but hey.)
“I do not think it's over yet. I remember a clash between Milan and Deportivo la Coruna when Milan was also ahead by four goals, and in the end Deportivo eliminated Milan.
“I went into the Arsenal dressing room after the match to speak to Robin van Persie. I had agreed with him to swap shirts – my sons are big fans of his and he brought two for them. They will be delighted.
Van Bommel went on to talk about a possible move to PSV in the future, but was quick to point out his terms for the move.
“I've spoken with PSV, but we don't have an agreement yet. The club has to decide what they want.
“If Louis van Gaal turns out to be the new coach, I won't go.”
"Tonight everything went in the right direction and we did a very good match. You don't start a match thinking to win 4-0, but at the end i think we deserved it coz we played very well."
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