Athletic Bilbao have reached the Europa League group stages after securing a narrow 1-0 win over Zilina in their playoff round second leg at the San Mames.
The hosts were quickest off the starting blocks when Borja Viguera collected Javier Eraso's ball and fired towards goal, but the effort was blocked and cleared away.
Bilbao continued to press Zilina and had them on the ropes time and time again, with the visitors' first chance not coming until the 16th minute, when Jakub Paur saw his effort charged down.
Eventually the Basque giants succeeded in breaking the deadlock when, 24 minutes in, Gorka Elustondo lashed a long-range shot from just outside the area into the bottom-right corner.
Laszlo Benes came close to pulling the Slovakian giants back two minutes before the break, but his vicious effort whistled past the post.
The hosts picked up from where they left off after the restart, coming within a whisker of doubling the lead when Markel Susaeta poked wide from just a few yards on the hour.
Despite this, Zilina rallied round and began imposing themselves on their opponents, and even when they risked being killed off when Lukas Cmelik conceded a penalty four minutes before the end, Mikel Rico blasted his spot kick over to keep their hopes alive.
Nevertheless Bilbao held on for a narrow win, which confirmed Zilina's Europa League exit on the away goals rule and left Ernesto Valverde's charges to proceed in the competition.
Giuseppe Labellarte
