Bilbao see off Espanyol in Spanish league

A spectacular free-kick from substitute David Lopez gave Athletic Bilbao a come-from-behind 2-1 victory against Espanyol on Sunday to maintain their impressive home record.

Athletic have only lost twice at home this season to Barcelona and Atletico Madrid but looked as though they were heading for defeat after Pablo Osvaldo gave high-flying Espanyol a deserved lead.

Didac Vila should then have doubled the advantage when he shot tamely at the keeper while Gaizka Toquero also had a good chance for Athletic.

In the second half Espanyol were made to pay as they defended deeply, looking to hold onto their lead, with first Fernando Llorente’s header and then substitute Lopez’s excellent 30-yard free-kick into the top corner.

The result was a big disappointment for Espanyol who were unable to capitalise on Villarreal’s 1-0 defeat by Getafe and remain in fourth.

Mallorca were hoping to bounce back after a disappointing 3-0 defeat by Getafe last week but they were beaten 1-0 by Racing Santander with Oscar Serrano scoring in the final minute.

Hercules took Malaga apart in the second half to win 4-1 after conceding an early goal from Sebas Fernandez.

David Trezeguet started the comeback before further goals from Royston Drenthe, Abraham Paz and Kiko Femenia.

Sporting Gijon and Levante came out with honours even in their relegation battle which ended 1-1 with Felipe Caicedo’s opener for Levante cancelled out by an Sebastian Eguren goal.

Later, in-form Barcelona take on Real Sociedad having scored 14 goals in their last three games and crucially five against Real Madrid, which put them top of the table.

Coach Pep Guardiola realises though that they cannot relax against Sociedad who are riding high in the table.

WWe are on a good run but we have been scoring a lot of goals for the last two or three years as well as conceding few,” he said.

“We have to be prepared as we could find ourselves in a difficult situation very quickly. We have to be careful against Real Sociedad because they have been a big surprise this season and are capable of producing a shock.”

Real Madrid responded to their mauling by Barça with a 2-0 win over Valencia and they now face bottom side Zaragoza with several players missing.

Karim Benzema, fresh from his hat-trick against Auxerre in the Champions League, leads the attack but with Gonzalo Higuain injured coach Jose Mourinho has complained this week at the lack of alternatives available to him in attack.

A suspension for Sami Khedira means that Lass Diarra goes into midfield while Alvaro Arbeloa plays at full-back with Sergio Ramos injured.

Last night a brace by Sergio Aguero led Atletico Madrid to a 2-0 victory over Deportivo la Coruna. It was Aguero’s night as he first won a penalty after being upended by keeper Daniel Aranzubia but Diego Forlan missed the follow-up penalty.

Not long later Aguero did find the back of the net with a jinking run and shot, and then added to it ten minutes before half time.

Lowly Almeria produced an inspired performance to beat Sevilla 3-1 and pile the pressure on the troubled Andalusian side.