Levante beat Bilbao, move closer to safety

IANS  |  Bilbao (Spain) 

Levante came from behind to defeat Club 3-1 and improve their chances of avoiding relegation from the

The victory here on Monday night leaves 17th-place Levante with 37 points, nine ahead of Deportivo La Coruna with four matches left to play. The hosts, meanwhile, sit 14th with 40 points, reports news agency.

Both teams started brightly, but Athletic looked the more likely to score and it took just 8 minutes to put the home side ahead 1-0 with a blast from 30 yards out that left Levante keeper Oier Olazabal with no chance.

Levante grew to dominate possession as the half wore on and a pair of deadly free kicks by Enis Bardhi in the final minutes before the break turned the contest on its head.

The blame for the first goal belonged largely to Athletic keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who did a poor job in positioning the defensive wall. On the second strike, it was the wall - especially and Cordoba, who failed their keeper.

Trailing 2-1, Athletic were more aggressive in the second half and Garcia came close to equalizing with a shot that bounced off the cross-bar.

and also had opportunities for the side and it took a great goal by in the final minute of regulation to seal the win for Levante.

--IANS

ajb/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Tue, April 24 2018. 13:22 IST