Athletic Bilbao checked newly promoted Villarreal’s impressive early-season run when they beat the team with the distinctive canary-yellow strip 2-0 at the San Mames Barria in La Liga on Monday.
Villarreal were already two goals down when captain Bruno Soriano, one of Spain’s most elegant midfielders, was harshly shown a second yellow card in first-half stoppage-time.
Midfielder Mikel Rico had put Bilbao ahead with a 33rd-minute header and forward Aritz Aduriz ended a barren spell with his first of the campaign when he punished a defensive howler from Mateo Musacchio two minutes later.
Photo: EPA
Bilbao, who have struggled on the road, but have now won four and drawn one at the San Mames Barria, climbed to sixth on 16 points from nine games, while Villarreal, who held Real Madrid to a 2-2 draw at El Madrigal last month, stay fourth on 17.
“We have put ourselves in a good position and what we need to do now is to get some positive away results,” Bilbao captain Andoni Iraola said in an interview with Spanish broadcaster Cuatro.
“We are feeling fantastic here at home and are delighted with the new stadium,” he said.
RC Celta de Vigo’s earlier game at home against Levante UD was disrupted by torrential rain sweeping across Galicia that sparked a lighting failure at halftime at a saturated Balaidos.
The second period started about a quarter of an hour late and with the players splashing through puddles on the playing surface the game eventually finished 1-0 to the visitors thanks to Papakouli Diop’s 89th-minute volleyed winner.
Levante climbed to ninth on 13 points, while struggling Celta are in 19th place on six points.
Champions Barcelona and Atletico Madrid dropped their first points of the season on Saturday when they drew 0-0 at CA Osasuna and lost 1-0 at RCD Espanyol respectively, missing out on the chance to equal the best ever start to La Liga.
Third-placed Real Madrid closed to within three points of Barca ahead of Saturday’s Clasico at the Camp Nou and within two of Atletico when they won 2-0 at home to Malaga.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later