Athletic Bilbao missed a chance to ignite their stuttering season when they were beaten 2-1 at BATE Borisov in Champions League Group H on Tuesday.
The Belarussian side rallied from their opening 6-0 thrashing at Porto to take a deserved lead in the 19th minute at their new Borisov Arena in Barysaw when an unmarked Denis Polyakov popped up at the back post and lashed the ball into the roof of the net from a corner.
Nikolai Signevich struck a fine volley against a post on the half hour for BATE before Aleksandr Karnitski’s shot deflected off Bilbao captain Andoni Iraola and past wrongfooted ’keeper Gorka Iraizoz in the 41st.
Photo: AFP
In-form Aritz Aduriz — one of the few bright spots in the opening weeks of Bilbao’s season — pulled a goal back four minutes later when he shrugged off his marker and fired a low shot into the corner.
Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde made three changes in the second half and one of the substitutes, Markel Susaeta, came close to an equalizer in the 82nd, but his powerful drive was well-saved by BATE goalkeeper Sergei Chernik.
In the Champions League group phase for only the second time, Bilbao were held to a 0-0 draw at their San Mames Barria by Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk in their opener.
They are six games without a win in all competitions and are floundering in La Liga, but have little time to pick themselves up from Tuesday’s defeat before a trip to Real Madrid on Sunday.
Bilbao’s next Champions League outing is at Porto on Oct. 21, when BATE host Shakhtar, who failed to win their Group H match on Tuesday when Porto striker Jackson Martinez came off the bench to score two goals in the closing minutes, including a penalty, to earn a 2-2 draw.
The Colombian struck in the 89th minute from the spot and equalized in the 94th after Shakhtar scored second-half goals through Brazilians Alex Teixeira and Luiz Adriano at Lviv Arena.
Teixeira put Shakhtar ahead seven minutes after the break when 19-year-old Oliver Torres lost the ball in his area. Shakhtar ’keeper Andriy Pyatov then saved a controversial first-half penalty from Yacine Brahimi.
Shakhtar’s Luiz Adriano seemed to have wrapped up the win after 85 minutes as he latched on to Bernard’s curled pass, but Porto struck back four minutes later through Jackson Martinez’s spot-kick.
The visitors’ pressure paid off in added time as Jackson Martinez put a perfect one-touch finish on Tello’s low cross to silence the Arena Lviv.
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