The San Mames played host to one of the best matches so far in La Liga this season.
Athletic Club can consider themselves unfortunate not to have won their match against Real Madrid after dominating play for long periods, particularly in the first half.
Iker Muniain’s opener took the roof off of the stadium, and when Raul Garcia appeared to have put Los Leones 2-0 up before the break, pandemonium broke out.
Unfortunately for the hosts, the linesman’s flag, correctly, ruled it out.
Inevitably, Los Blancos were always going to come back into the match at some point, and that would be when Casemiro was introduced after half time.
Dani Ceballos, a surprising starter, was the fall guy, but Julen Lopetegui had identified that Athletic were getting through his midfield far too easily and more often than he would like.
With the Brazilian in situ, the gap had been plugged, and as such, Eduardo Berizzo’s side needed to play down either flank where both Dani Carvajal and Marcelo were up to the task.
An acquired taste, Casemiro wasted no time in winding up his opponents, with Raul Garcia an obvious target.
More often than not, his tactics worked as Athletic became more and more frustrated. He isn’t known as ‘the invisible man’ by his peers without reason.
But his way of working allowed Real the platform to get back into the game as another sub, Isco, managed to get on the end of Gareth Bale’s stunning right-foot cross to bring them level.
Simple, effective marshalling of the midfield and protection of a defence that had looked brittle at times.
Like Sergio Busquets at Barcelona, a lot of the work he does often goes unnoticed, but take him out of the equation and it’s obvious what his strengths are and why Real need them.
The situation was brought into sharper focus because the difference between Casemiro and Ceballos within that particular team dynamic was an almighty chasm.
And it wasn’t as if the Spaniard had played badly. He just wasn’t offering what Real needed at that point.
That 90 minutes will have shown Lopetegui that he leaves the Brazilian out of the starting line up again at his peril.
In the end, 1-1 was about right in what was a fantastic advert for La Liga, but in truth, the game was probably a little more demanding that Real would’ve liked, given that their Champions League opener is right around the corner.
