European Super Football

Athletic Club 0 - 2 Arsenal Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard came off the bench to deliver the goals as Arsenal opened their Champions League campaign with victory over Athletic Club. Author | DJ Stadium | San Mames Martinelli needed just 36 seconds to make his mark, racing through to score after being set up by Trossard midway through the second half. The Brazilian then turned provider, beating his man before laying the ball back for Trossard to tuck in a second with four minutes to play. It was far from straightforward for Mikel Arteta’s side. Athletic, returning to the competition for the first time since 2014-15, flew out of the blocks backed by a raucous San Mamés crowd. Alejandro Berenguer was a persistent threat and the hosts had Arsenal penned in for long spells of the first half. The Gunners did create the clearest chance before the interval, Viktor Gyökeres heading wide from close range, but overall struggled to assert themselves. Gyökeres later finished the match...

Athletic Club 2 - 0 Rangers (Athletic Club won 2-0 on aggregate) Nico Williams' late header ended Rangers’ Europa League hopes, as Athletic Bilbao secured a place in the semi-finals and kept alive their ambition of lifting the trophy on home soil. Author - Craig H Stadium  - San Mamés  Following a hard-fought goalless draw at Ibrox, where the Spanish side played much of the first leg with ten men, Rangers knew they would need something close to flawless to progress past La Liga’s fourth-placed team. For a while, they remained in contention, still level with just over ten minutes remaining. But Williams’ decisive goal, nodding in a superb cross from Oscar De Marcos, extinguished any hope of Rangers reaching a second final in four years. The breakthrough had come earlier in first-half stoppage time, when Oihan Sancet converted a penalty to give Bilbao the lead. The timing of the opener was a bitter blow for Barry Ferguson’s side, though in truth Athletic had been the do...