Williams brothers fire Athletic past Barca
Inaki Williams raced back from Africa to face Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and sent Athletic Bilbao into the semifinals by scoring a crucial goal in their 4-2 extra-time triumph on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).
The Ghana forward played on Monday for his country but made it home to help Athletic vanquish the Spanish champions and pile more pressure on their coach Xavi Hernandez.
Athletic struck inside the first minute through Gorka Guruzeta, but Barcelona turned the game around with goals from Robert Lewandowski and 16-yearold starlet Lamine Yamal.
Oihan Sancet netted early in the second half to take the game to extratime and then teed up substitute Inaki Williams to put the Basques ahead.
His brother Nico Williams added the finishing touch late on to complete a superb night for the hosts, and a miserable one for Barca, despite a battling performance.
“There was a lack of concentration, individual errors,” admitted Xavi.
“It’s a game of errors and we are not minimizing them.”
The coach said he was calm despite the defeat and had bigger fish to fry.
“We’ll go for La Liga and the Champions League, the most important trophies remain, and we’ll fight for them like we did today,” he added.
After Barcelona’s recent humbling by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final Xavi admitted the team needs to win a trophy this season.
Eight points off the top in La Liga, the record 31-time Copa del Rey winners saw the cup as an accessible route to silverware.
In their way were former Barca coach Ernesto Valverde and his Athletic side, 23-time cup champions, behind only the Catalans, featuring the inspired Williams brothers.
“The fact Inaki was here was a huge morale boost,” Valverde told TVE.
“He’s a player who is always decisive for us and who instills fear in opponents.”
Roared on at a raucous San Mames, Athletic took the lead after just 36 seconds, with Guruzeta capitalizing on Barca’s disorganized defense and turning home.