Madrid, Sep 6 (IANS) Spain’s FIFA World Cup 2026 star Nico Williams scored his first goal of the season as Athletic Bilbao registered a dominant 3-0 win against Atletico Madrid in the La Liga contest held at San Mames Stadium.
Atletico Madrid was slightly the better team in the first half, with Pablo Barrios hitting the post shortly before halftime, but Athletic Bilbao started the second half with two goals in two minutes from Nico Williams and Robert Navarro.
Nico was on hand to nod home after a deflected shot from his brother Inaki, who then set up Navarro to cut inside and score with a curling left-footed shot, reports Xinhua.
Athletic Bilbao then sat deep and limited Atletico to just a single chance, which saw goalkeeper Unai Simon save well from Julian Alvarez before Oihan Sancet scored in the 90th minute on the counterattack.
This is the second consecutive win for the Athletic club, and with this they have moved up to eighth place in the points table with six points in four matches, while Atletico Madrid lost the chance to move up in the table, and they are placed at seventh with seven points in four matches. Last year’s champions, Barcelona, are again on the top with 9 points in three matches, while their arch-rival Real Madrid also has nine points but is placed in second position due to less goal difference.
In other matches, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the winning goal as Deportivo A Coruna fought back for a 3-2 win away to Villarreal.
Nicolas Pepe put Villarreal ahead in the 19th minute, but Luisi Cruz equalised before halftime after an assist from Aubameyang.
Adama Traore then had an own goal on his debut to put Villarreal back in front, but Villarreal was guilty of twice gifting the ball to Deportivo to equalise and then win the game, with Zakaria Eddahchouri making it 2-2 and Aubameyang hitting the winner with two minutes left to play.
–IANS
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