The 2004–05 season was the 104th season in Athletic Bilbao's history and their 74th consecutive season in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football.

Season summary

In the previous season, new manager Ernesto Valverde guided Athletic Bilbao to 5th place in La Liga,^[2] their highest placing in six seasons. This also allowed them their first European participation since 1998, qualifying for the 2004–05 UEFA Cup.^[3]

Valverde's second season in charge was less successful in the league, as Athletic suffered three more losses than the year before and slipped to 9th.^[4] They enjoyed more success in the Copa del Rey, reaching the semifinals before being knocked out on penalties by eventual champions Real Betis.

Their European adventure began in the UEFA Cup first round, where they were drawn against Trabzonspor of Turkey. Despite losing the away first leg 3–2,^[5] they qualified for the group stage by winning 2–0 at home.^[6] They were drawn in Group B, and suffered another defeat in Turkey, this time against Beşiktaş.^[7] However, they won their other three games - against Parma of Italy,^[8] Steaua București of Romania,^[9] and a crushing 7–1 victory over Standard Liège of Belgium^[10] - to progress as group winners. Their opponents in the next round were Austria Wien, and despite a creditable 0–0 draw in the away leg,^[11] Bilbao were eliminated after a 2–1 defeat at home.^[12]

Valverde left his post at the end of the season, and was replaced by José Luis Mendilibar.^[13] Mendilibar lasted only until the following October,^[14] while Valverde would return to the club for a second spell as head coach in 2013.^[15]

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

^{[1][16][17][18]}

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		La Liga		Copa del Rey		UEFA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	ESP	Iñaki Lafuente	12	0	0	0	8	0	4	0
2	DF	ESP	Javier Casas	27	0	14+5	0	5+1	0	2	0
3	DF	ESP	Asier del Horno	43	7	23+6	3	4+2	1	6+2	3
4	DF	ESP	Aitor Karanka	12	0	5+1	0	3	0	2+1	0
5	MF	ESP	Felipe Guréndez	4	0	2+2	0	0	0	0	0
6	MF	ESP	Óscar Vales	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	MF	ESP	Julen Guerrero	18	3	0+12	3	3+1	0	0+2	0
9	FW	ESP	Santi Ezquerro	47	19	31+1	11	4+4	3	7	5
10	MF	ESP	Francisco Yeste	42	13	24+3	8	5+2	2	8	3
11	MF	ESP	Javi González	14	0	7+3	0	0+2	0	1+1	0
12	DF	ESP	Jesús María Lacruz	21	2	12+4	2	2+1	0	1+1	0
13	GK	ESP	Dani Aranzubia	42	0	37	0	0+1	0	4	0
14	DF	ESP	Luis Prieto	44	0	28+2	0	6	0	8	0
15	DF	ESP	Andoni Iraola	49	6	31+3	4	7	1	8	1
16	MF	ESP	Pablo Orbaiz	50	5	35	3	6+1	2	7+1	0
17	FW	ESP	Joseba Etxeberria	48	6	30+3	3	6+1	1	8	2
18	MF	ESP	Carlos Gurpegui	50	6	34	4	7+1	0	8	2
19	DF	ESP	Ander Murillo	43	0	29+2	0	5	0	6+1	0
20	FW	ESP	Ismael Urzaiz	44	12	19+12	12	4+1	0	5+3	0
21	MF	ESP	Jonan García	15	0	6+7	0	2	0	0	0
22	FW	ESP	Joseba Arriaga	19	0	6+8	0	2	0	1+2	0
23	MF	ESP	Tiko	42	3	22+9	3	5+1	0	2+3	0
24	DF	ESP	César	8	0	3+4	0	1	0	0	0
27	MF	ESP	Aritz Solabarrieta	13	0	4+7	0	0+2	0	0	0
28	MF	ESP	Endika Bordas	1	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0
30	GK	ESP	Roberto Pampín	2	0	1+1	0	0	0	0	0
31	DF	ESP	Jon Moya	2	0	1+1	0	0	0	0	0
32	FW	ESP	Fernando Llorente	20	6	9+6	3	3+1	3	0+1	0
	FW	ESP	Igor Angulo	1	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0
	GK	ESP	Oinatz Aulestia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	FW	ESP	Gorka Azkorra	3	0	0	0	0	0	0+3	0

Results

UEFA Cup

Main article: 2004–05 UEFA Cup

First round

Main article: 2004–05 UEFA Cup first round

Trabzonspor v Athletic Bilbao

16 September 2004	Trabzonspor	3–2	Athletic Bilbao	Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium, Trabzon
19:00	González 25' (o.g.) Yılmaz 28' Karadeniz 69'	Report	Gurpegui 73' del Horno 80'	Referee: Stuart Dougal (Scotland)

Athletic Bilbao v Trabzonspor

30 September 2004	Athletic Bilbao	2–0	Trabzonspor	San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao
21:30	Ezquerro 5' Yeste 61'	Report		Referee: Tom Henning Øvrebø (Norway)

Athletic Bilbao won 4–3 on aggregate

Group B

Main article: 2004–05 UEFA Cup group stage

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Athletic Bilbao	4	3	0	1	11	4	+7	9
Steaua București	4	2	0	2	4	3	+1	6
Parma	4	2	0	2	5	6	−1	6
Beşiktaş	4	1	1	2	7	7	0	4
Standard Liège	4	1	1	2	4	11	−7	4

Source: https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec200405.html

Athletic Bilbao v Parma

21 October 2004	Athletic Bilbao	2–0	Parma	San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao
21:00	Gurpegui 8' del Horno 49'	Report		Attendance: 24,000 Referee: Zsolt Szabó (Hungary)

Beşiktaş v Athletic Bilbao

4 November 2004	Beşiktaş	3–1	Athletic Bilbao	BJK İnönü Stadium, Istanbul
19:30	Güneş 26' Carew 63' Akın 89'	Report	Ezquerro 49'	Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Florian Meyer (Germany)

Athletic Bilbao v Steaua București

1 December 2004	Athletic Bilbao	1–0	Steaua București	San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao
20:45	Etxeberria 45'	Report		Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Georgios Kasnaferis (Greece)

Standard Liège v Athletic Bilbao

16 December 2004	Standard Liège	1–7	Athletic Bilbao	Stade Maurice Dufrasne, Liège
20:45	Onyewu 15'	Report	Ezquerro 6', 9', 54' Yeste 35' Iraola 58' del Horno 63' Etxeberria 71'	Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Martin Ingvarsson (Sweden)

Round of 32

Main article: 2004–05 UEFA Cup final phase

Austria Wien v Athletic Bilbao

24 February 2005	Austria Wien	0–0	Athletic Bilbao	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna
19:30 (CET)		Report		Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Alon Yefet (Israel)

Athletic Bilbao v Austria Wien

27 February 2005	Athletic Bilbao	1–2	Austria Wien	San Mamés Stadium, Bilbao
18:00 (CET)	Yeste 19' (pen.)	Report	Sionko 35', 70'	Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Grzegorz Gilewski (Poland)

Austria Wien won 2–1 on aggregate

See also

• 2004–05 La Liga
• 2004–05 Copa del Rey
• 2004–05 UEFA Cup

External links

• Official website (in English, Basque, and Spanish)

References