Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Real Madrid: Five Talking Points

#4 Simon ready to step up in Kepa's absence

Simon was tremendous in goal

Athletic Bilbao custodian Kepa Arrizabalega left for Chelsea on deadline day, and that was a great loss for the team. The Spanish shotstopper guarded the net for years now and was one of the best in the club's recent history. His boots might be too big to fill, but his replacement Unai Simon looks up for the challenge.

The 21-year old was a busy man, especially in the first-half, but stood tall and stood strong to deny everything thrown at him. As aforementioned, Real Madrid were forced to try luck from distance, but most of them were on target. However, it mattered little with Simon stopping each one of it with his iron fist. He almost conceded early on in the second-half when he spilled an Asensio free-kick and allow Ramos to try his luck from close range, but was let off by the former's brash effort.

He couldn't do much about the equaliser, but that doesn't take the gloss of the fact that he made 5 brilliant saves on the night and was literally the barrier between Real Madrid and a couple of goals. Simon is yet to register a cleansheet this term, but on this form, it won't be too far from today.