Newcastle and Bilbao met in a pre-season friendly yesterday at St James’ Park with the home side coming out victorious with a 2-1 win, however, the real story was the love shown between the two clubs with Bilbao sending out some top class tweets before and after the game.
Before kick-off a flag was unveiled on the pitch celebrating the friendship between the two clubs which was formed back in 1994 during a European tie.
🔴⚪️ @Athletic_en & @NUFC ⚫️⚪️
Around 30 years ago our teams crossed paths for the first time. Since then, the connection between fans of both clubs has only grown stronger.
🤝 Today, we celebrate that bond.
🧣 Aupa Athletic, Howay the Lads! pic.twitter.com/kK7p9PiDxG
— Athletic Club (@Athletic_en) July 30, 2022
🤝 Club president Jon Uriarte exchanging gifts with @NUFC
⚫️⚪️ Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi representing the English team. #NUFCAthletic #AthleticClub 🦁 pic.twitter.com/Z9Dp5pK7oc
— Athletic Club (@Athletic_en) July 30, 2022
Goals from Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin were enough on the day to see Newcastle finish pre-season with another victory, despite a goal from Raul Garcia for Bilbao.
Bilbao signed off the weekend with a behind the scenes video chronicling their time on Tyneside this weekend. A pure touch of class from a club that Newcastle has considered a friend since that tie in 1994 when the good times shared by both sets of fans overshadowed the actual game. Even with Newcastle failing to progress beyond that tie on the away goals rule, bonds were formed that clearly remain to this day.
🔴⚪ Thank you Newcastle for letting a little bit of red and white into your city yesterday! We know it can't have been easy! 😉
Beautiful city, amazing people and great football 👌
🎥 Behind-the-scenes footage from #NUFCAthletic#AthleticClub 🦁 pic.twitter.com/77n6bNfC9k
— Athletic Club (@Athletic_en) July 31, 2022
We wish Athletic Club all the best ahead of their La Liga campaign, and we hope to see them again in the future as we both find ourselves competing in Europe again.