Mixed night for Spanish sides in Europa League

Mixed night for Spanish sides in Europa League

MADRID, Oct. 1 -- Both Athletic club Bilbao and Villarreal lost away from home in their respective Europa League on Thursday night.

Athletic lost 3-1 away to last season's beaten finalists WerderBremen. The Basque side struggled to get into the match in the first 45 minutes and fell behind to goals from Naldo and Hunt.

However, Athletic producing a spirited second half fightback and was close to snatching a draw.

Fernando Llorente reduced the distances in the last minute of the game, but with Athletic looking for an equalizer, Thorsten Frings scored from the penalty spot to make the final score 3-1.

Meanwhile Villarreal's miserable start to the season continued with a 2-0 defeat away to Red Bull Salzburg.

Villarreal has yet to win in the Spanish Primera Liga, but started brightly in Austria. However, the home side took the lead after 20 minutes thanks to a goal from Janko.

Ernesto Valverde's team pushed forward in the second 45 minutes looking for an equalizer, but any hopes of sneaking a draw were smashed when Tchoyi scored a left foot shot following a scramble in the visitors' penalty area.

It was down to Valencia to provide the only Spanish triumph of the night and they did so in a thrilling match in the Mestalla stadium, despite going in 1-0 down at half time against Genoa.

Goals from David Silva and Nikola Zigic turned the score around within 10 minutes of the restart, but Genoa equalized through Kharja after 64 minutes.

However, substitute David Villa scored the winner with eight minutes remaining to leave Valencia in a strong position in its qualifying group with 4 points from two games.
(Xinhua)