Athletic Bilbao have beaten Napoli 3 (4) - 1 (2) in the San Mamés stadium to secure their progress to the Champions League group stage for the first time since the 1998/99 season.
The tie was firmly in the balance after a 1-1 draw in the first leg, with the goals coming from Iker Muniain and Gonzalo Higuain, so both sides still had all to play for coming into the game.
The first half started with Napoli in the ascendancy, going close with efforts from José Callejon and Gonzalo Higuain. However, Athletic Club settled into the match well, and after a few sustained periods of possession and pressure, Carlos Gurpegi was guilty of missing a great chance when he headed wide from a corner after losing his man.
The chances kept coming, and Aymeric Laporte should have scored just minutes from later after yet another set piece. Napoli 'keeper Rafael flapped at a cross, and the ball fell to the Frenchman, who blazed over when it looked easier to score. The Spanish side were having plenty of luck down the wings, and another chance went abegging as Aduriz headed over just before the break.
The 2nd half came, and Napoli exploded into life. A poor headed clearance from Balenziaga fell to Marek Hamsik, and the Slovak made no mistake, slotting the ball low into the bottom right hand corner of Iraizoz's goal. The goal however, seemed to spark the Basque side to life, with Balenziaga testing Rafael with a 30 yard drive, before parity was restored.
A corner was fizzed in, and fell to Aritz Aduriz. The striker controlled the ball with a delightful touch, and slotted home past a helpless Rafael. Now the tide was turned firmly in Athletic Club's direction. And it wasn't long before they took the lead. A long ball was missed by Albiol, and when Rafael collided with his own defender, Aduriz was left the simple task of slotting home into an empty net to get his and Athletic's second.
And in the 74th minute, Ibai Gomez made the tie safe. A pass played in the direction of Aduriz, who is a few yards offside, is left by the big attacker, and Napoli's defence was left shell shocked as Gomez slotted home the final goal of the game.
Athletic are through to the group stages of the Champions League as two goals in quick succession relegate Napoli to the lower echelons of European competition. Athletic will be happy with the way their side have played tonight but Napoli will be furious as all 3 goals were easily avoidable! The home fans go home jubilant and the Napoli fans make the long trek home to Italy in the company of bitter disappointment.