Athletic Bilbao crush Las Palmas 5-1 in La Liga

Iker Muniain and Aritz Aduriz fired a brace each as Athletic Club Bilbao routed UD Las Palmas 5-1 to take a provisional hold on sixth place in the La Liga football championship here.

The hosts on Friday could have scored more goals against a visiting side that seemed lacking in competitive fire. Four of the six goals were scored in the first 18 minutes, reports Efe.

A perfect header by San Jose put Athletic ahead in the seventh minute and Muniain doubled the lead just two minutes later on a direct free kick.

Pedro Bigas clawed one back for Las Palmas in the 12th minute with a header even more impressive than San Jose's, but veteran goal-poacher Aduriz made it 3-1 for the home side in the 18th minute.

Athletic generated another half-dozen scoring opportunities before the end of the first half, including an Aduriz goal that was deemed offside, but the score remained the same.

The visitors had a couple of chances to narrow the gap early in the second half. Jonathan Vieira came close on a free kick and a Laporte tackle against Pedro Tana should have resulted in a penalty.

The hosts wrapped up the contest with a pair of goals just ahead of the hour mark. Muniain's volley from a distance in the 58th minute was followed less than a minute later by Aduriz, who scored from close range after a Las Palmas giveaway.

Aduriz boosted his goal total to 22, 14 of them in La Liga. Muniain's brace brought him to six goals for the season.

Athletic with 53 points from 32 matches, sit one point ahead of seventh-placed Real Sociedad and two ahead of Eibar in the eighth spot, though both of those rivals have a game in hand.

At 38 points, Las Palmas remain in the 13th place.

--IANS

pur/bg