Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao to move to second place in La Liga

Angel Correa and Yannick Carrasco scored second-half goals to give Atletico Madrid 3-1 lead. (Source: Reuters)

Atletico Madrid moved closer to the Spanish league lead by defeating Athletic Bilbao 2-1 on Wednesday. Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak stopped Aritz Aduriz’s penalty kick before halftime and Angel Correa and Yannick Carrasco scored second-half goals to leave the Madrid side within four points of leader Barcelona.

Third-place Sevilla hosts Las Palmas later Wednesday.

Defending champion Real Madrid, seven points off the lead, hosts Real Betis.

It was the second consecutive win for Atletico, which was coming off a 1-0 victory against last-place Malaga in the inaugural match at its Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Saturday. Diego Simeone’s team remains unbeaten after five rounds.

“To win in this stadium you need to play a great match and I think we did that,” Simeone said. “We controlled the game and were very effective. It’s a very important triumph for us.”

Oblak used his left hand to stop a powerful shot by Aduriz after a mistake by Atletico left back Filipe Luis led to the penalty at Athletic’s San Mames Stadium.

Correa opened the scoring from inside the area after a cross by Jorge “Koke” Resurreccion in the 55th minute, and Carrasco added to the lead with a low shot into the far corner after a well-placed pass by Antoine Griezmann in the 73rd. Griezmann had also helped set up the first goal with a pass to Koke.

“It was Griezmann’s best match so far this season,” Simeone said.

Raul Garcia netted an injury time goal for Athletic, which has now lost two in a row after an unbeaten start.

Barcelona routed Eibar 6-1 on Tuesday with four goals by Lionel Messi to keep its perfect record after five matches.

NO GOALS

Leganes and Girona failed to take their chances in a goalless first meeting in the top flight.

Both teams created clear scoring opportunities but Leganes, playing in the Liga for the second season, had to settle for a point with promoted Girona.

Leganes stayed in the top half of the standings, in eighth place, while Girona was 14th.