First Division - Day 7

Málaga 2 - Athletic Bilbao 1

Málaga: Kameni; Rosales, Bakary Koné, Diego Llorente (En-Nesyri 46’), Ricca (Juan Carlos 63’); Juanpi, Camacho, Recio, Chory Castro; Sandro, Charles (Duda 67’). 4-4-2.
Athletic: Iraizoz; De Marcos, Yeray, Laporte, Balenziaga; San José, Beñat; Williams (Lekue 44’), Raúl García, Sabin Merino (Mikel Rico 75’); Aduriz (Etxeita 61‘). 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
0-1. 03. Aduríz. Controlled long De Marcos pass and ran on to shoot past Kameni.
1-1. 82. Sandro. Fired angled shot across Iraizoz after Duda laid ball back to him.
2-1. 83. Duda. Connected with Juan Carlos pass and steered shot past keeper.

Yellow cards: Rosales 36’, Ricca 45’, De Marcos 52’, Chory Castro 54’, Sabin Merino 59’, Recio 68’, Bakary Koné 70’, 94’, Charles 84’, Duda 84’, Laporte 86’, Juanpi 88’ / red cards: Balenziaga 36’, Bakary Koné 94’.

Athletic Bilbao stay in sixth place despite losing 2-1 at Málaga on Sunday evening. Aduríz gave Ernesto Valverde’s side an early lead, a brilliant touch on from a long De Marcos clearance taking him on past his marker to score. However with ten minutes to go to the break Balenziaga was sent off for a retaliatory kick on Rosales, who was lucky himself only to be shown a yellow card for what was a waist high challenge on his opponent, and Valverde was forced to take off Williams to bring on a replacement for the full back. Even so the visitors held on until eight minutes from the end, when Sandro fired an angled shot across Iraizoz after Duda laid the ball back from the right. A minute later Duda himself scored the second after Juan Carlos played the ball back from the left by-line, and although Koné was also red carded near the end, Málaga had a much needed second win which takes them two points clear of the relegation spots.