Bilbao's Berenguer deals Atletico another Liga defeat

Bilbao, Spain, 7 Dec - Alex Berenguer's superb strike from outside the area earned Athletic Bilbao a late 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid on Saturday in La Liga.

Diego Simeone's Atletico, fourth, fell to a second consecutive defeat which leaves them nine points behind leaders Barcelona, who beat Real Betis 5-3 earlier on.

Atletico had been on a run of 13 matches unbeaten before Barca defeated them in midweek, with the Basques following it up at their buzzing San Mames stadium.

Ernesto Valverde's Athletic, seventh, were also beaten by Real Madrid on Wednesday but produced a far better showing to defeat the visitors.

Athletic have had a poor start to the season, both domestically and in the Champions League. However they shaded Atletico in a hard-fought match before Berenguer netted his first goal of the season in the 85th minute to claim his team three points.

"We're really annoyed... on a counter-attack they put one past us," said Atletico midfielder Pablo Barrios.

"There's still a lot of points left at stake, at the start of the season we were a way behind (but fought back)."

Simeone's side were without injured stars Alexa Baena, Jose Gimenez and Marcos Llorente, but were able to name Robin Le Normand on the bench after injury.

Athletic were dealt a blow in the latter stages of and even first half when centre-back Aymeric Laporte went off injured, replaced by Dani Vivian.

Atletico started the second half stronger but the hosts began to take control.

Athletic's Oihan Sancet selfishly blazed over in the second half, when he had team-mate Unai Gomez free and calling for the ball in a perfect position to score.

Atletico substitute Alexander Sorloth might have put his team ahead but his header was saved by Unai Simon, shortly before Berenguer decided the game.

Nico Williams cut the ball back to the forward on the edge of the box and he planted a spinning effort beyond the reach of Atletico stopper Jan Oblak.BSS