Two first half goals for Bate Borisov secured a 2-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League group stage.

Bate hadn’t beat Spanish opposition in their last eight attempts but they got off to a flying start when Dzyanis Palyakow opened the scoring before Aleksander Karintskiy added a second. Bilbao got one back before half time through Artiz Aduriz but they could never find their equaliser, leaving them bottom of Group H.

It was a slow start from both sides, especially Bilbao who didn’t seem to settle on the ball and were lacking creativity. Bate came close after 15 minutes when a ricocheted ball fell to Nikolay Signevich but Andoni Iraola did well to get across and put it behind.

It was the home side that took the lead after 18 minutes, a dangerous corner was whipped in coming off a Bilbao player eventually falling to an unmarked Palyakow and two Bilbao players watched on as the defender hit it into the roof of the net.

Bate put in another dangerous corner four minutes later, but Gorka Iraizoz is there this time to claim it. The home side had another great chance to double their lead on the half hour mark, the ball over the top came to Signevich but his brilliant effort came back off the post and the follow up from Karintskiy was well wide of the target.

Five minutes before the break Bate got their second goal. Good play saw the ball come to Karintskiy who showed some great skill to create some space for himself and his shot took a big deflection, fooling Iraizoz and dribbling into the bottom corner.

Despite their poor showing Bilbao managed to get a goal back right on half time, the goal scorer Aduriz headed down to Iker Muniain who showed great skill to get it back to the striker who then turned well to make space and then hit back across the goal into Siarhei Chernik’s right hand corner.

It was Bate who hit the ground running in the second period. Signevich was costless on the edge of the area and he opened his body to hit it across goal, but Iraizoz got down well to grab it. Bilbao were caught sleeping once again from the quick throw in but the resulting shot was wide.

Bate had Bilbao and were looking to kill off the game and came close with 20 minutes left, the away side again give the ball away with it falling to Signevich. He couldn’t quite get it out of his feet and it eventually went over the bar.

Bilbao managed to convert their first real opportunity of the half with only nine minutes left to play. Substitute Markel Susaeta hit a venomous shot but Chemik did well to tip the effort over the crossbar. Bate looked to be through once again four minutes from time but youngster Aymeric Laporte did well to get across to prevent the opportunity.

The last real opportunity fell to the away side who were still looking for their equaliser. A costless kick was headed towards goal, but Palyakow did well to flick beyond the post.

Bate were the better team throughout the game and were well deserving of their first group stage victory since 2012. Bilbao however were very poor; they lacked creativity and never seemed to be in the game. Their poor start to the season continues. 

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.