Athletic Bilbao 2 Espanyol 1: Williams and Garcia on target

Goals from Inaki Williams and Raul Garcia helped Athletic Bilbao to a 2-1 La Liga win over Espanyol at San Mames on Sunday.

The Basque outfit deservedly went a goal up before the interval following a superb strike from Williams, but Hernan Perez levelled the scoring after the break.

Garcia restored Athletic’s lead after 64 minutes of play and the visitors failed to get a second equaliser as it remained 2-1.

Athletic have collected 17 points from 11 games following Sunday’s win, while Espanyol have gathered 13 points so far.

Athletic made a fine start to the game and grabbed the lead after just eight minutes following a wondergoal from Williams. Oscar de Marcos set up the 21-year-old with a chipped pass and he took it out of the air superbly before volleying home from inside the area for his fifth goal in his last three games.

Aritz Aduriz tried his luck his luck shortly after as the hosts pushed for a second goal, but the experienced striker failed to get his shot on target.

Espanyol levelled the scoring shortly after the interval following a fine team move. Victor Sanchez Mata eventually set up Perez and the Paraguay international beat Gorka Iraizoz to make it 1-1.

The hosts immediately started charging forward again in a bid to restore their lead and Garcia netted what would prove to be the winner shortly after the hour-mark.

Markel Susaeta set up the former Atletico Madrid man and he unleashed a powerful shot that proved to be too much for Espanyol goalkeeper Pau Lopez.