Athletic Bilbao 1 : 2 Valencia - Valencia leave it late

Posted Sunday, February 27, 2011 by PA

Valencia struck twice in the last 19 minutes to overturn an early deficit against Athletic Bilbao and strengthen their hold on third place with a 2-1 win.

Athletic took the lead through star striker Fernando Llorente, who turned 26 on Saturday, but his birthday celebrations were ruined by late goals from Valencia duo Juan Mata and Jonas Oliveira.

Mata drew the teams level in the 71st minute before January signing Jonas climbed off the bench to net his first goal for the club and give Los Che the points.

The result means Valencia extend their lead over fourth-placed Villarreal to four points after the Yellow Submarine could only draw 2-2 at Racing Santander earlier tonight.

For Athletic, a third successive Primera Division defeat left them in sixth place, two points behind Espanyol.

After losing their previous two games away to Real Mallorca and Barcelona, Athletic would have been pleased to be back at their San Mames home, where they had claimed nine wins from 12 games this season.

And the Basque side started brightly, with Llorente bringing a superb save out of Vicente Guaita in the seventh minute.

Guaita could do nothing seven minutes later though as Llorente showed good strength in the area before sliding in his 14th league goal of the season.

Llorente, who suffered a painful elbow to the head from David Navarro at the start of the second half, then came within inches of doubling Athletic's lead in the 64th minute.

The World Cup winner turned inside his marker on the edge of the area before curling in a low shot that struck the far post.

Had that gone in, the home side might well have claimed the victory that would have lifted them back into the top five, but just six minutes after that let-off, Valencia drew level.

A good move down the right resulted in Joaquin Sanchez sending a low cross to the far post where Mata was on hand to slot in.

Boosted by that equaliser, Unai Emery's side pushed for the winner and Tino Costa drew a diving save out of Gorka Iraizoz with a shot from the edge of the box.

Then, with eight minutes to go, Los Che got the goal which could prove crucial in the race for third place.

Brazilian Jonas, who was introduced in the 64th minute, was quickest to react after Iraizoz parried out another Costa effort and the new signing slotted into an open net.