History of Athletic Bilbao
Meanwhile, sons of the Basque educated classes had made the opposite journey and went to Britain to complete their studies in civil engineering and commerce. While in the United Kingdom, these students developed an interest in football and on their return to Bilbao they began to arrange games with British workers. In 1898, students belonging to the Gymnasium Zamacois founded the "Athletic Club", using the English spelling. In 1901, a meeting was held in the Café García, which established more formal rules and regulations. In 1902, the two Bilbao clubs formed a combined team, known as "Bizcaya", in the first Copa del Rey. They returned with the trophy after defeating Barcelona in the final. This would lead to the eventual merger of the two clubs as "Athletic Club" in 1903. In the same year, Basque students also formed "Athletic Club Madrid"; this club later evolved into Atlético Madrid. The club's foundation date is a subject of debate among football historians. The club itself declares 1898, but others claim 1901 or 1903 as the true founding year.
Athletic Bilbao in European football
Both clubs fielded teams of a single nationality in the showpiece first leg at the Stadio Comunale on 4 May before a 75,000 crowd, with the only goal scored by the hosts' Marco Tardelli. In the return on 18 May, an early away goal by "Juve"'s Roberto Bettega left Athletic with a tough task to score three against the side that were about to be crowned Serie A champions, had only conceded 20 goals in the league and given up just one to each of their UEFA Cup opponents that season. Athletic quickly equalised on the night through Irureta, but could not find another goal until Carlos scored the second on 78 minutes. A frantic last portion of the match failed to produce the vital third goal, the tie finished 2–2 and Juventus claimed their first European trophy on the away goals rule. A few weeks later, Athletic suffered further disappointment when they lost the 1977 Copa del Rey Final in a penalty shoot–out to Real Betis.
Results thereafter were not as impressive: the following season began in familiar circumstances as Athletic defeated opponents from Switzerland (Servette) and Hungary (Újpest again, requiring extra time to progress) before falling to Aston Villa, and the 1978–79 UEFA Cup run ended even sooner as Ajax overturned a two-goal deficit to win the first–round tie with Søren Lerby scoring the decisive goal with two minutes remaining. It was a fair outcome, as the second of Athletic's scores in Bilbao should not have been awarded: Juan Carlos Vidal's shot struck the outside of the supporting stanchion and rebounded onto the field of play in a similar manner to the legitimate goal earlier in the match, and was mistakenly given by the referee.