The winners and losers as Real Madrid’s perfect start comes to an end with Bilbao draw

In an absolutely ferocious feast of football, Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid played out a breathless 1-1 draw.

San Mamés was rocking tonight as two of Spain’s three most historic clubs played out a toe-to-toe battle. In the end the spoils were shared and Madrid’s perfect start came to an end. Who were the winners and losers?

Winner: Iker Muniain

Iker Muniain has played 369 games for Athletic Bilbao at the age of 25. That’s impressive, but what you have to consider is that he’s also missed well over a year of football thanks to injury, including a couple to his cruciate ligaments. That makes his consistency frankly absurd.

Muniain debuted as a 16 year-old and looked for all the world like he was going to dominate the world stage. Coaching inconsistencies and, well, injuries, have held him back. But tonight against Real Madrid, the little lion roared loud and proud.

Muniain was sensational against Los Blancos. A constant driving force forward and a talismanic presence. Athletic’s attacking impetus flowed through him and it was so fitting that he was the one who opened the scoring, getting a toe to Iñaki Williams’ goalbound effort and slamming it home with a little bit of extra flavour.

Loser: Iker Muniain

But as much as he is a winner, a hero, Iker Muniain must also go down as a loser. With less than 10 minutes played in the second half, he pulled up with what looked like a muscle injury.

Athletic took no risks and immediately replaced Muniain with Ander Capa, but you could see the disappointment on poor Muniain’s face. It was a heartbreaking scene, and it was no surprise that Athletic’s tempo and confidence faded severely once Muniain went off.

Winner: Unai Simón

Kepa who? Athletic Club lost their star goalkeeper in the summer for a world record fee. Kepa was magnificent, so his departure and the injury to his supposed successor Iago Herrerin could have left a gaping hole in the middle of the Athletic Club defence. Could have, mind you, because they brought youngster Unai Simón through (recalling him from loan at Elche) and in all honestly they haven’t missed a beat.

Unai Simón was absolutely monumental against Real Madrid, not at all intimidated by the mighty Madrid, making enormous saves to thwart Real Madrid’s high-powered attack. His stops from Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos and in particular the way he deaded Marco Asensio 1v1, standing tall and thwarting the Madrid winger, were essential to Athletic’s point.

Loser: Sergio Ramos

Real Madrid’s Mr. Big Time didn’t have the best of nights in the north of Spain. Fresh from captaining Spain to an enormous win over Croatia, Ramos was perhaps understandably not at his mercurial best. He was running forward to play no. 9 midway through the first half. Seriously.

And that attitude just about explains the sheer number of times he got ripped to bits by Athletic Club and had to be bailed out by the rocksteady Raphael Varane. In particular on Athletic’s goal; Sergio Ramos had absolutely no idea where Oscar De Marcos was as the Spaniard ran in behind him to create Athletic’s opener.

His performance was so bad, you honestly expected him to score a last-minute winner. That he didn’t almost certified his loser status, that’s how high the bar is that he’s set himself.

Winner: Casemiro

For the first half, Real Madrid were absolutely battered by Athletic Club. They were repeatedly running beyond Madrid’s midfield, exposing their lack of defensive strength. At half-time Julen Lopetegui introduced Casemiro, and in the second half things changed enormously.

The Brazilian added true steel to the middle of the park. Suddenly Madrid had a midfielder who could bite back against the lions of Bilbao. Casemiro riled up the San Mamés by refusing to be cowed by Athletic, and although he didn’t solve all of Madrid’s issues, his presence allowed Madrid to flex their attacking muscles with greater regularity and earn that precious point.

Winner: Isco

Isco has surprisingly not been the featured star of Julen Lopetegui’s Real Madrid, and tonight he started on the bench and watched his team get slapped around at the San Mamés. This often happened under previous coach Zinedine Zidane, and Isco would never actually come on (this happened in not one but two Clásicos, both of which Madrid lost).

But not Lopetegui. He sent for Isco 9 minutes after Iker Muniain left the field. 10 minutes after Iker Muniain had left the field, Lopetegui’s decision was thoroughly vindicated as Isco ran forward, finding space between the Athletic defenders and rising to meet Gareth Bale’s weak foot cross. He guided his header down low, past the seemingly impassible Unai Simón, and drew Madrid level.

A priceless point for Real Madrid, earned thanks to Isco’s ability to immediately impact a game.

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