Athletic Club 3-0 Atlético Madrid: Lions roar back to life at San Mamés
There’s something about San Mamés on a late summer evening that still hits different. The noise builds from the moment the buses pull up, the red-and-white flags never stop moving, and the old ground—rebuilt but never really changed in spirit—feels like it could swallow a team whole if it senses weakness. On 5 September 2026, Atlético Madrid found that out the hard way.
Athletic Club, still finding their feet under new coach Edin Terzić, produced a second-half blitz that left Diego Simeone’s side looking shell-shocked. Nico Williams, Robert Navarro and Oihan Sancet scored the goals in a 3-0 win that felt bigger than just three points. It was the sound of a club starting to believe in itself again after a shaky start to the LaLiga season.
The road to kick-off
Athletic had opened the campaign with two defeats. They lost 1-3 at home to Sevilla, then went down 0-2 at Barcelona. The early results raised the usual questions. Was Terzić, the former Borussia Dortmund coach who arrived with a solid reputation but no previous experience of Spanish football’s particular intensity, the right fit? Could a squad still built around the Williams brothers and a core of Basque players adapt quickly enough?
Then came the trip to Balaídos. Athletic beat Celta Vigo 2-0, with the goals coming early and the performance full of the energy people had been waiting for. Suddenly the mood shifted. One good result can do that in Bilbao. By the time Atlético arrived, the expectation had changed from “don’t lose” to “this is a chance.”
Atlético, by contrast, had started solidly. Two wins and a draw left them unbeaten and sitting in the upper half of the table. Simeone’s side still carried that familiar mix of organisation and bite. They had scored freely in their win at Sevilla the previous weekend. Julián Álvarez was available again after his summer transfer speculation, and the squad looked deep enough to handle rotation. On paper it looked like a classic Atlético away performance was coming—absorb pressure, strike on the break, leave with a point or three.
History offered mixed signals. Atlético had struggled in the Basque Country in recent years. Their record against Athletic at San Mamés had turned sour. Simeone’s teams used to win there with regularity a decade ago. Lately the trips had been awkward. The pattern was clear enough that even the most optimistic Atlético fans were cautious.
Terzić went with a familiar-looking 4-2-3-1: Unai Simón in goal; Jesús Areso, Yeray Álvarez, Aymeric Laporte and Yuri Berchiche across the back; Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta and Beñat Gerenabarrena in midfield; Robert Navarro, Oihan Sancet and Nico Williams behind Iñaki Williams. Simeone lined up in a shape that looked more like a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 depending on the phase, with Jan Oblak behind Marcos Llorente, Marc Pubill, Dávid Hancko and Alejandro Grimaldo. Pablo Barrios and Morten Hjulmand sat in midfield, with Giuliano Simeone, Álex Baena, Kang-in Lee and Ademola Lookman providing the attacking options.
The referee was José Luis Munuera Montero. Nearly 48,500 people filled the stands. The weather was mild, the pitch looked perfect, and the stage was set.
First half: control without the killer instinct
The opening 45 minutes belonged more to Atlético in terms of territory and possession. They had 62% of the ball across the whole match and finished with more shots (15 to Athletic’s 11). In the first half they created the clearer chances.
Kang-in Lee hit the inside of the post. Pablo Barrios also struck the woodwork. Unai Simón had to be alert on a couple of occasions, notably when Baena forced him into a save. Atlético looked organised and patient. They circulated the ball, tried to stretch Athletic’s defence, and waited for the moment the home side’s intensity dropped.
Athletic, for their part, stayed compact. They pressed in short bursts rather than for the full 45 minutes. The Williams brothers offered the usual threat on the transition, but clear-cut chances were rare. Yeray Álvarez took a knock to the head in a challenge and was replaced at half-time by Aitor Paredes. That was the only change at the break.
It finished 0-0. You could sense the crowd growing restless in the way Basque crowds do—loud, but with an edge of impatience. Atlético had been the better side without being clinical. Athletic had survived without creating much. The second half felt like it would decide everything.
The two-minute explosion
What happened next will be replayed in Bilbao for a long time.
Barely 30 seconds after the restart, Athletic scored. Iñaki Williams drove forward, his shot was blocked or deflected, and Nico Williams reacted first, heading the loose ball past Oblak. The stadium erupted. Nico’s first goal of the season arrived at the perfect moment.
Two minutes later it was 2-0. Again Iñaki was involved. He found Robert Navarro, who cut inside past Grimaldo and curled a precise finish into the far side-netting. Suddenly the whole dynamic of the match had flipped. Atlético looked stunned. Athletic looked transformed.
Simeone reacted by making multiple changes around the hour mark. Julián Álvarez, Koke, Cristian Romero and Arnau Ortiz all came on. The idea was clear: inject energy, experience and attacking quality. It didn’t work. Athletic stayed solid. They defended their box with the kind of discipline that Terzić had been demanding, and they still carried a threat on the break.
The third goal arrived in the 90th minute. Oihan Sancet, who had been lively throughout, finished coolly after a loose ball fell to him in the box. The celebration was pure release. San Mamés had its night.
What the numbers said—and what they didn’t
Possession finished 38-62 in Atlético’s favour. They had more shots and more corners. On expected goals the gap was narrower, with Athletic actually coming out ahead in some calculations (around 1.35 to 0.86 in one set of figures). The key difference was efficiency and concentration. Athletic took their chances. Atlético hit the woodwork twice and failed to convert the pressure they generated in the first half.
Nico Williams looked sharp again after a quieter previous season. Navarro’s goal was a moment of real quality. Sancet’s late strike was the icing. At the other end, Unai Simón was reliable without being spectacular. The defence, once Paredes came on, dealt with Atlético’s late pressure without major alarms.
For Atlético the performance raised familiar questions. Away from home they still struggle to turn control into goals against well-organised sides. The Basque trips keep hurting them. Simeone was blunt afterwards: they lost the match in those five minutes after half-time. Two minutes, really. The damage was done before the substitutes could influence the game.
Wider context and what comes next
For Athletic the win felt like a statement. Two consecutive victories, back-to-back clean sheets, and a first home win of the season under the new coach. Terzić has spoken repeatedly about wanting his team to play with bravery and high pressure while still being solid. This performance mixed both. They absorbed, then struck. The squad looks deeper than it did a few weeks ago, and the connection between the Williams brothers remains a weapon few teams in Spain can match.
The table after four matches showed Athletic on six points, sitting in the middle of the pack. Not where they want to be long-term, but a platform. The early defeats no longer looked like a crisis. They looked like the start of a process.
Atlético dropped to seven points from four games. Still respectable, but the first defeat of the season always stings, especially in this fashion. They face a difficult run and the Champions League campaign was about to begin. Simeone will demand a response. He always does.
The atmosphere and the feeling
What lingers from the night is the noise after the second goal. San Mamés has a particular roar when the home side turns a tight game in their favour. It isn’t just celebration. It’s recognition that the team has done something the crowd values: fight, intensity, and a bit of quality at the right moment. Nico’s header, Navarro’s finish, Sancet’s late goal—they all fed that feeling.
Terzić has only been in the job a short time, but nights like this help build belief. The players looked more coordinated than they had against Sevilla or Barcelona. The tactical adjustments at half-time clearly worked. Athletic came out of the dressing room with a different energy, and Atlético never recovered.
Football matches are rarely decided by one five-minute spell, yet this one was. Everything that came before was careful and competitive. Everything that came after was shaped by those two early second-half goals. Athletic rode the momentum. Atlético never found a way back.
In the end it was a clear, deserved victory for the home side. Not because they dominated every minute, but because they were clinical when it mattered and solid when they needed to be. For a club that lives off identity and intensity as much as results, that combination felt right.
San Mamés went home happy. The lions are starting to look like themselves again. And for Atlético Madrid, the long trip back to the capital will have felt even longer than usual.
The season is young. Both teams still have plenty of football left to play. But on this particular Saturday in early September, Athletic Club made a statement that will be remembered in Bilbao for some time. Three goals, three points, and a night that reminded everyone why this ground still matters so much.
