A second-half goal from the 35-year-old striker was enough to hand the visitors a vital away goal and passage into the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Athletic Bilbao edged into the last eight of the Europa League on away goals at the expense of Valencia, thanks to top scorer Aritz Aduriz, despite a 2-1 defeat at the Mestalla.
Having won last week’s first leg 1-0 at San Mames, Athletic found themselves 2-0 down and staring elimination in the face with 14 minutes to go on Thursday.
But Aduriz’s eighth goal of this year’s competition made the difference, with Valencia head coach Gary Neville subsequently sent to the stands for furiously protesting against a handball in the build-up.
Athletic came into Thursday’s meeting at Mestalla having won 3-0 in the league on the same ground at the end of February, but Valencia were vastly improved and found themselves two up at the break.
Santi Mina opened the scoring in the 13th minute when he was quickest to react to a rebound inside the area from Iago Herrerin’s save, before Aderlan Santos’ towering header put the home side in front on aggregate.
Valencia appeared to be closing out the victory to seal their place in Friday’s quarter-final draw in Nyon, until Raul Garcia’s superb flick set up Aduriz, who made no mistake in slotting home to see Athletic through.
~Goal