Athletic Bilbao add to Levante's troubles

Athletic Bilbao continued their push for European football with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Primera Division bottom side Levante.The Basque side have not lost at home since September and that record never looked likely to end here, with Mikel San Jose and Inaki Williams scoring the goals in the second half.Levante began well and Nabil Ghilas forced Gorka Iraizoz into the first save of the evening with a shot from a tight angle before seeing another effort blocked.But soon the home side got on top and Levante were grateful to the woodwork for keeping out Markel Susaeta's shot.The chances kept on coming for Bilbao, with Benat, San Jose, Raul Garcia and Williams all missing the target before Aritz Aduriz's header was saved by Diego Marino. It was goalless at half-time, but Bilbao must have felt it was only a matter of time and, after Aduriz and Susaeta both had efforts saved by Marino, San Jose broke the deadlock.Susaeta was the provider with a cross after a corner had been half cleared and San Jose headed into the bottom corner. The chances continued for the home side as Aduriz first saw a header saved by Marino and then shot just wide.A rare Levante opportunity in the 78th minute saw Jose Morales shoot just over, but their chances of taking something from the game were all but ended four minutes later.Aduriz played the ball through for Williams, who found the bottom corner to double Bilbao's lead. Zouhair Feddal went close with a header as Levante continued to search for a goal, but in the end they were grateful to Marino for a fine save to deny Iker Muniain in injury time.