Federico Valverde delivered a moment of magic in the dying minutes of stoppage time to hand Real Madrid a hard-fought 1–0 victory over a resilient Athletic Bilbao at the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday night.
With the match teetering on the edge of frustration for the home fans, Valverde stepped up in the 93rd minute, collecting a rebounded ball just outside the penalty area and unleashing a thunderous shot into the top left corner, well beyond the reach of goalkeeper Unai Simón.
The Uruguayan’s strike — a blend of power and precision — proved decisive and sent the 72,535 fans in attendance into raptures.
Despite Madrid dominating possession and peppering the Bilbao goal with waves of attacks throughout the second half, they found it difficult to break through a compact and disciplined Basque defence marshalled by Simón.
The Spanish international put in a heroic performance between the posts, making key saves to deny Jude Bellingham, Vinícius Júnior, and Rodrygo on several occasions.
Vinícius thought he had opened the scoring in the 80th minute when his curling effort from the edge of the box nestled in the bottom corner. However, VAR intervened to disallow the goal due to a marginal offside in the buildup, prolonging the tension.
Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti responded by introducing fresh legs, bringing on Brahim Díaz, Arda Güler, Endrick, and Lucas Vázquez in a bid to break the deadlock.
The changes added renewed energy and urgency, but Bilbao held firm — until Valverde’s spectacular intervention.
Bilbao, for their part, remained dangerous on the counterattack and forced Thibaut Courtois into a fine save midway through the second half, while Inaki Williams and Unai Gómez tried to find inroads through Madrid’s backline.