Athletic Bilbao striker Aritz Aduriz scored a hat-trick to lead a 4-0 rout of 10-man Granada at home on Friday, as the Basque side strengthened its hold on Spain’s last Champions League berth for next season.
Aduriz headed home Markel Susaeta’s cross in the sixth minute to open the scoring at the San Mames Stadium.
He bettered that with a long-range blast that went in off the goal frame in the 18th, and converted a penalty in the 72nd after Diego Mainz was sent off for fouling Aduriz with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Photo: AFP
Bilbao defender Carlos Gurpegi capped the win in the 80th with a volley from outside the box.
Bilbao could have won by a wider margin if it had not been for ‘keeper Roberto Fernandez. Granada did not muster a shot on goal.
Bilbao’s first victory in their last three home games left them in fourth place and seven points ahead of Villarreal and Real Sociedad, who were scheduled to play yesterday.
Real Madrid lead the league by three points over Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, and all three front-runners are far ahead of Bilbao and the other teams fighting for fourth place and the final Champions League spot.
“I’m happy the team won again,” Aduriz said. “To stay at the top you have to keep winning week after week. There is a long way to go and it will be very tough, because there are some good teams in the fight. But we will give it our all to stay in fourth place.”
Granada’s fifth consecutive loss away from home left them five points from the relegation zone.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but