Athletic Bilbao succumb to Felipe Caicedo-inspired Lokomotiv
Athletic Bilbao went down 2-1 to a Felipe Caicedo-inspired Lokomotiv Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium, the Russians producing a second-half fightback to clinch victory in the first leg of their Europa League last 32 tie.
Marcelo Bielsa’s men had to cope with sub-zero temperatures but opened brightly with Markel Susaeta, Óscar de Marcos and Fernando Amorebieta all being denied by Brazilian goalkeeper Guilherme within the space of five minutes. However, the pressure finally told on 35 minutes when Iker Muniain put the Basques ahead with a well-taken goal.
Nonetheless, it was a different story in the second half and former Levante and Manchester City striker Caicedo earned his side a penalty on 61 minutes when he was brought down by Jon Aurtenetxe. Midfielder Denis Glushakov converted the spot-kick before Caicedo scored the winner himself 10 minutes later, cashing in on Amorebieta’s failure to clear to smash home the winner.
With everything to play for at San Mamés next week, the victors going on to face the winners of Ajax and Manchester United in the next round, boss Bielsa is confident his side can overcome the one-goal deficit.
“I, and the players, are hopeful we can reverse this defeat,” said the Argentine in the post-match Press conference. “The tie is over two legs and with a difference of one goal no way can we be less than hopeful.”
Bielsa also acknowledged his team showed two different sides of their character after throwing away the superiority and one-goal advantage Muniain had given them. However, he refused to blame the cold - with the thermometer showing minus eight during the game - or the artificial pitch.
“In all honesty, when the first half finished I was very optimistic about the second because of the way we had played. But early in the half we began to lose the ball at the start of moves and from there it is very difficult to create anything.
“It was not the pitch or weather that cost us, but we will try to turn the tie around. Our opponents won this game but there are high expectations we can mount a comeback in the return,” he added.
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