A double from Aritz Aduriz and a solitary strike from Ibai Gomez have taken Athletic Bilbao into the Champions League, beating Napoli 3-1, 4-2 on aggregate.
Los Leones named an unchanged side from the one that drew 1-1 in the first leg of the play-off, with Iker Muniain supporting Aduriz up top. The Serie A outfit meanwhile, brought in Dries Mertens and Faouzi Ghoulam to replace Lorenzo Insigne and Miguel Britos.
This was the first match at the newly-renovated San Mames, with the Basque side looking to make the group stages for the first time in 16 years. The atmosphere from the crowd was scintillating, but nerves didn’t seem to be an issue as the home team exploded out of the blocks.
After just two minutes, the men from the north were peppering the Partenopei box with crosses, but it wasn’t until the sixth minute that either team had an effort on goal. A breakaway from Mertens saw the Belgium international pass to Jose Maria Callejon, but his shot went well over the bar.
The opening exchanges were 100 miles per hour, with Aduriz going through on one occasion and Benat pulling the strings in the No.10 position. But the Italians were keeping the Athletic backline honest – Gonzalo Higuain firing one from long-range that almost caught out Gorka Iraizoz.
But the best of the opportunities fell to Carlos Gurpegi on 24 minutes. A corner from Muniain found the central defender, but, unmarked, his header went wide of Rafael’s left-hand post.
Valverde’s men were really pressing home their advantage now, but just couldn’t find the back of the net. This time it was the other centre back, Aymeric Laporte, who missed a golden opportunity, as the France Under-21 international fired over from just six yards.
After the break, it couldn’t have got any worse for the hosts, as within seconds of the restart, Napoli struck. A long ball from Walter Gargano was headed away by Laporte, but Hamsik was there to collect the second ball, and smash home from the edge of the area.
But Athletic weren’t deterred, and they went level midway through the half. A corner from the left went all the way to Aduriz at the far post, who plucked the ball out of the air and fired into the bottom corner.
And they completed the turnaround on 70 minutes, much to everyone’s delight. Raul Albiol dithered on the ball, and Aduriz ran in between the Spaniard and the goalkeeper, nicked the ball from the defender, and tapped into an empty net.
The Leones fans were in dreamland, and it got even better with 15 minutes remaining. A through pass from Ander Itturapse went towards an offside Aduriz, but the veteran striker left it for Ibai Gomez, who raced forward and beat the goalkeeper with a cool finish.
Athletic 3-1 Napoli (Agg 4-2)
Scorers: Aduriz 62, 70 (AB), Ibai 75 (AB); Hamsik 47 (N)
Athletic: Iraizoz, De Marcos, Gurpegi, Laporte, Balenziaga, Iturraspe, Mikel Rico, Beñat (Ibai Gomez 59), Susaeta (Lopez 73), Aduriz, Muniain (San Jose 85)
Napoli: Rafael; Maggio, Albiol, Koulibaly, Ghoulam (Britos 56); Jorginho, Gargano; Mertens (Zapata 77), Hamsik, Callejon; Higuain
