Fernando Llorente grabbed a brace as Athletic Bilbao proved their Europa League conquest of Manchester United was no fluke with a 4-2 win at Schalke in Thursday's quarter-final first leg. Llorente struck in the 20th and 73rd minutes in Gelsenkirchen after veteran compatriot Raul had scored twice to give the German side a 2-1 lead on the hour mark before Bilbao hit three goals in the last 17 minutes.
After Llorente had levelled for 2-2, Oscar de Marcos and Iker Muniain scored in the closing 10 minutes while Schalke's Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar hit the post with a smart volley. Bilbao will start as comfortable favourites to make the semi-finals when the second leg is played at home next week although they will have defensive midfielder Ander Iturraspe suspended.
Raul's goals, his second a fine volley, also extended his record as Europe's deadliest striker with the 34-year-old now having 76 goals in European competition, six more than Filippo Inzaghi. Atletico Madrid, the 2010 champions, needed a goal a minute from time to edge another German side Hanover 2-1 in Spain. Falcao fired Atletico in front after nine minutes with Mame Biram Diouf levelling for Hanover seven minutes from half-time.
But substitute Eduardio Salvio popped up in the 89th minute to give Atletico a narrow lead. Australian international Brett Holman and Maarten Martens scored Dutch league leaders AZ Alkmaar's goals in a 2-1 victory over Valencia, the third Spanish side in the quarter-finals.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.