Inigo Martinez’s scored the late winner for Athletic Club after Stefan Savic canceled out Berenguer's early goal as Atletico Madrid stumbled to a loss to Athletic Bilbao.
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Atletico Madrid suffered a 2-1 defeat against Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames to open up the La Liga title race. Barcelona’s 2-1 win against Villarreal has closed the gap on leaders Atletico to just two points with a game in hand. Two out of three goals in the match were scored from corner kick. Inigo Martinez scored the late winner to give Bilbao their first win since March 7 in any competition. Atletico defender Savic canceled out Berenguers early goal.
Bilbao took the lead courtesy of a diving header from Alejandro Berenguer in the 8th minute. Ader Capa’s cross from the right flank took a slight deflection off Atletico defender Felipe. The ball looped into the penalty box for Berenguer to dive and head it past Atletico keeper Jan Oblak.
After conceding the goal, Atletico was desperate for an equalizer but was unable to break the Bilbao defense. Athletic looked the better side on the night and created better chances. Atletico coach Diego Simeone brought in Luis Suarez, Joao Felix, Thomas Lemar in the 58th minute. Atletico played with some urgency but was lacking the killer instinct.
Savic scored the equalizer in the 77th minute. Yannick Carrasco’s corner from the left wing found Savic at the near post, who headed it to the goal past Athletic goalkeeper Unai Simon.
Another corner at the other end in the 86th minute sealed the three points for Athletic club. Ibai Gomez’s corner from the right wing found an unmarked Inigo Martinez inside the box, who powered it past Oblak to make it 2-1 for Athletic Club.
Second placed Real Madrid’s 0-0 draw against Real Betis on Sunday and third placed Sevilla’s 2-1 win over Granada made the title race wide open with four teams separated by just three points. Third placed Barcelona could go to the top of the points table with a win against Granada on Thursday.
Atletico Madrid are currently placed on top of the La Liga points table with 73 points from 33 games.
