BATE v Atletico Bilbao final score: BATE edges Los Leones, 2-1, for first win over Spanish club
By Josh Sanchez
BATE v Atletico Bilbao result
The UEFA Champions League rolled on Tuesday afternoon, with a meeting between BATE Borisov and Athletic Club at Borisov Arena in Belarus. It was the second fixture in Group H play for both of the clubs.
Atletico Bilbao drew with Shakhtar Donetsk in their first outing of the tournament, while BATE was upended by Porto.
BATE had never defeated a Spanish club in eight attempts and had only scored two goals against those sides, but all of that changed on Tuesday when the club was able to score a big win over Los Leones.
Denis Polyakov put BATE ahead early in the match, with a 19th minute goal from close range.
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In what was a bit of a surprise, Nikolai Signevich found Aleksandr Karnitski running towards the net in the 41st minute and sent off the pass. Karnitski was able to put the ball away with a left-footed shot that beat Gorka Iraizoz to the bottom left corner.
Los Leones wanted to avoid heading into the half trailing by two goals, and they got a much-needed lift from Aritz Aduriz right before the half.
Athletic Club had managed to control a majority of the possession, but midway through the second half they had still only managed to put one of eight shots on target. Meanwhile, BATE had as many shots on target as Los Leones had as a whole, with BATE putting together an impressive 21 total shots.
In the waning minutes of the match, frustration was building for Los Leones.
Two yellow cards just minutes apart allowed BATE the chance to hang on to the lead, and they did just that to survive and pick up a much needed win against a Spanish side.
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