The lions of San Mamés are the more unlikely of the early front-runners, after struggling to retain their top-flight status in recent years, although to be fair, in the last two seasons they have rallied quite well in the later parts of the campaign and finished a respectable 13th and 11th, with a King's Cup Final appearance thrown in for good measure. But nobody expected them to obtain full marks in their first three games, especially given the extra burden this season of the Europa League, for which they qualified on the basis of their losing the cup final to Barcelona last year.
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Add to that the emergence of the new Basque version of Wayne Rooney, 16 year-old Iker Muniain. On Thursday he scored one, set one up, and generally terrorized the Austrian defence with a frighteningly confident display. Like Rooney when he first appeared, Muniain has a face slightly older than his years, and looks as if he had been born to play the game. Athletic's youngest ever debutant and youngest ever goalscorer, he may not be destined to stay long in Bilbao.
Athletic's need to move stadium, stay afloat and remain competitive may see them cash in rather sooner than later, if indeed Muniain proves to be more than a flash in the pan. Small, quick-footed and intelligent, it says a lot for manager Joaquín Caparrós, so often accused of being a defensive obsessive and a reluctant risk-taker. Indeed, he sent him on half-way into the second half of this weekend's 3-2 win against Villarreal, who are struggling to get started this season after the departure of their guru, Pelligrini, and the loss of Nihat to Besiktas.
