Iñaki Williams Celebrates 500th Appearance with Pair of Assists in Athletic Clubs Win Over Real Betis

The home side had not scored in their last three fixtures, yet they appeared dangerous right from the start and generated two prime opportunities within the first four minutes.

Initially, Aymeric Laporte launched himself at Alex Berenguers cross and directed a header just past the far upright, then Berenguers close range shot from 15 yards was parried by Pau Lopez, who also blocked Iñaki Williams follow up attempt.

The much anticipated breakthrough came in the 25th minute, and Athletic owed it to an unexpected contributor, with Williams assisting centre back Dani Vivian to notch his first goal of the season via a low drive into the far corner from the boxes edge.

Betis had demolished Panathinaikos 4-0 in the UEFA Europa League under 72 hours prior, but they lacked bite in this encounter, leaving manager Manuel Pellegrini visibly irritated on the sideline during his 300th match at the helm.

The Chileans disposition would have soured even more just before the interval, as Williams earned a second assist, the forward beating the offside line and laying off for Oihan Sancet to slot in his fifth strike of the season into an unguarded goal.

Reacting to Athletic taking the lead, their second in 15 LaLiga outings, Pellegrini introduced three substitutes at the break, with Hector Bellerín, Sergi Altimira and Pablo Fornals replacing Angel Ortiz, Marc Roca and Antony.

However, Los Verdiblancos almost trailed 3-0 shortly after the resumption, as Lopez dived right to claw away Berenguers effort from distance over the bar.

Although Athletic kept posing threats, Betis carved out chances too, and Abde Ezzalzouli drew a sharp stop from Unai Simon after darting into the area and shooting low at the near post.

Athletic overlooked that alert, and Fornals offered Betis a way back with 15 minutes remaining, curling a superb free kick into the top corner from 20 yards to reach seven goals for the campaign.

Cedric Bakambu then nudged the ball past Simon moments later, but the replacement had his potential fourth involvement in six head to heads disallowed by VAR for offside.

Betiss surge towards the end turned the closing stages tense for Athletic, but the home team held firm for a win that lifts them to ninth in the standings, only three points from European qualification. Additionally, they mark their first LaLiga double over Betis since 2017/18, while the visitors stay fifth yet are now without a victory in five league matches (D3, L2).