Football
2016-17 Spanish LaLiga
ATH 
3
FT
 SEV
1
PA Sport 8y

Sevilla unbeaten start to LaLiga season ended at Athletic Bilbao

Athletic Bilbao ended Sevilla's unbeaten start in LaLiga with a 3-1 victory at San Mames.
Mikel San Jose bundled them ahead in the first half but Samir Nasri's first goal since joining Sevilla on loan from Manchester City drew the visitors level nine minutes into the second half.
Athletic regained the lead with a cracking strike from left-back Mikel Balenziaga, his first goal in 161 LaLiga matches, and Aritz Aduriz added a third from the penalty spot in the final minute after Sevilla goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu had been sent off for elbowing him in the back.
The result meant Ernesto Valverde's side leapfrogged their opponents, with this success their fourth victory in a row in the league, and left Sevilla still without a league victory away from home since May 23, 2015.
The hosts forged ahead in the 27th minute when Benat Etxebarria took a short corner and Oscar de Marcos' shot deflected into the path of San Jose, who bundled the ball past Sirigu at the second attempt.
Athletic felt they should have had a penalty five minutes before the break when Vicente Iborra appeared to use his hand to block Benat's shot.
The visitors got themselves on level terms in the 54th minute as Nasri, who had been involved twice in the build-up play, fired home a shot which bounced into the turf and up into the roof of the net after Athletic goalkeeper Kepa could only push Pablo Sarabia's cross-cum-shot into his path.
The home side restored their lead after 65 minutes as an attempted pass out of defence by Sevilla was smartly intercepted by Balenziaga, who strode past Mariano before drilling an unstoppable shot across Sirigu into the corner.
Kepa kept out a powerful shot from Sarabia at his near post with 17 minutes to go as Sevilla threatened, but Athletic should have added a third when substitute Enric Saborit dispossessed Iborra and raced clear. However, he tried to square to Aduriz rather than shoot and Gabriel Mercado was able to cut it out.
Sirigu was sent off late on as he reacted badly to Aduriz challenging him for a high ball into the box. Iborra went in goal but his sole task was to pick Aduriz's spot-kick out of the net on a miserable evening for Jorge Sampaoli's side.

^ Back to Top ^