The restart came quickly, almost abruptly, like Athletic Bilbao were trying to outrun the feeling that had settled in their chests.
The ball moved through the Williams brothers almost by instinct.
Nico kept moving inwards from the left while Inaki stayed up top, stretching the backline with the two of them exchanging short passes at the edge of Arsenal's shape and testing for gaps.
For a few seconds, it looked promising.
The home crowd leaned forward again, cheering them on as on one occasion, Nico took it on the left, squared up his marker, and tried to force the issue.
There was no space to run into, no angle to slip through, so he created one for himself.
He opened his body and bent one toward the far corner, but Raya was already set, expecting just that.
He took two quick steps and gathered it cleanly, the ball thudding into his gloves as the noise dipped.
