We fought well

The game at San Mames was preceded by a traditional ceremony. The Railwaymen’s captain Dmitry Torbinsky laid flowers at the bust of the football legend of the Basque Country – Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, aka Pichichi.

Delivering on the promise given by Jose Couceiro at the pre-match press-conference, Loko started aggressively. In the 2nd minute Felipe Caicedo sprinted from his marker and shot at the goal but the goal was saved by Iraizoz.

On the whole the first half brought a lot of fighting and tackles. The Railwaymen stuck to fair play while The Lions played dirty. Loko’s medical brigade appeared on the pitch three times during the first half to give first aid to Dmitry Tarasov, Felipe Caicedo and Roman Shishkin.

Loko’ defence was performing brilliantly and during the entire first half didn’t allow a single opportunity for Athletic despite enormous pressure from the Spanish players and fans.

With the beginning of the second half the situation changed just slightly – the ball remained in the midfield most of the time. In the end of the hour the Railwaymen caught the Basques breaking forward and Amorebieta had to break the rules to stop Shishkin who was breaking towards Iraizoz. The referee booked the Spaniard a second time and sent him off.

But Athletic scored almost immediately – the Spaniards played a long corner and Muniain netted the opener.

Jose Couceiro instantly thrown in Dmitry Sychev and Victor Obinna to enhance the attack.

The two speeded up the game and Iraizoz had more work to do between the posts. In the 71st minute Sychev made a great pass to Glushakov who shot at the goal forcing Iraizoz make another save.

Intending to keep the score Athletic started playing for time by all means: Llorente, Javi Martinez and Muniain fell on the grass in different episodes, and didn’t hurry with getting up. Nevertheless, Loko continued tearing the Lions’ defence and in the 79th minute Couceiro made another substitution aimed at boosting the attacking potential – one of Loko’s tallest defenders Manuel Da Costa appeared on the pitch.

A minute before the final whistle the Portuguese had a perfect chance to equalize – Caicedo brilliantly passed to Da Costa, but the defender failed to net the ball into an open corner.

Lokomotiv never managed to score the vital goal. Our team performed well against a strong opponent but couldn’t make it into the next round. Now the Railwaymen will continue the fight in the Russian championship and the Russian Cup.

Athletic - Lokomotiv 1:0 (0:0)

Goal: Muniain, 62.

Athletic: Iraizoz, Amorebieta, De Marcos, Iraola, Javi Martines, Toquero, Iturraspe (Perez, 46), Susaeta (San Jose, 46), Muniain, Herrera (Ekiza, 67), Llorente.

Lokomotiv: Guilherme, Burlak, Shishkin, Belyaev (Da Costa, 79), Yanbaev, Zapater, Tarasov, Glushakov, Torbinsky (Obinna, 66), Ozdoev (Sychev, 66), Caicedo.

Yellow cards: Iturraspe, 28. Zapater, 30. Amorebieta, 54. Caicedo, 54. Tarasov, 61. Javi Martinez, 69.

Red cards: Amorebieta, 60 (second yellow card).

Referee: Pawel Gil (Poland).

23 February. Bilbao. San Mames stadium. 35 000 spectators.