Athletic Club 1-0 Rayo Vallecano
Monday night wrapped up the final two fixtures of Jornada 2 in La Liga, as Athletic Club welcomed Rayo Vallecano to San Mamés, while Sevilla played their first home game of the season at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán against Getafe.
In Bilbao, Athletic began on the front foot, dominating possession and pinning Rayo back without finding a breakthrough. The visitors looked more dangerous on the counter: Álvaro García flashed a ball across the six-yard box with no one to finish, while Isi Palazón and Jorge de Frutos kept the home defence alert. The San Mamés crowd only truly stirred when Nico Williams produced an electrifying run and a long-range strike soon after.
The game shifted after the break with the return of Oihan Sancet from injury. The younger Williams set up his brother Iñaki with a sublime outside-of-the-boot pass, but goalkeeper Augusto Batalla reacted sharply to deny him. Moments later, Iñaki failed to capitalise on a deflection in the box.
The decisive moment came in the 66th minute: Sancet outmuscled Gerard Gumbau inside the area, won a penalty, and calmly rolled it into the net. From there, Athletic stayed composed, limiting Rayo’s chances and closing out a second consecutive home victory.
Rayo now turn their focus to Thursday’s Conference League play-off second leg at Vallecas against Neman Grodno, where they carry a slender 1-0 aggregate advantage.
Sevilla 1-2 Getafe
Sevilla hosted Getafe for Matias Almeyda’s home debut, and could scarcely have wished for a worse opponent. Los Azulones turned up to spoil Sevilla’s evening, and found plenty of space on the break, with the trident of Davinchi, Christantus Uche and Adrian Liso causing no end of problems. Luis Milla was generally their supplier, as he, Mauro Arambarri and Mario Martin snapping into challenges.
Liso, 20 and a new signing, grabbed his second goal in his second game after his deflected effort from a short corner found a way in. It looked as if Sevilla would end the half in trouble, but a delicious ball in from Juanlu Sanchez found Jose Angel Carmona at the back post, and his pressure forced Juan Iglesias to put the ball in his own net.
Just before the break, Uche, Liso and Milla could not convert a triple chance, but that set the tone for the early going in the second period. As Sevilla tried to make progress towards the Getafe goal, Jose Bordalas’ side robbed the ball, and broke, with the decisive counter-attack coming in the 51st minute. Milla nipped in to gain possession in midfield, skipped past a Sevilla defender, and then slipped in Liso, who finished with ease from the left side of the box. His third in two, he joins Tajon Buchanan and Kylian Mbappe atop the Pichichi leaderboard.
As Los Nervionenses looked for the equaliser, Isaac Romero struck the post with 10 minutes remaining, and Akor Adams had scored, but from an offside position. Those efforts belied an increasingly sloppy performance though, as they struggled to cope with Getafe’s defensive intensity. Bordalas’ side are one of five with maximum points so far. Sevilla were met with loud chants of ‘Board, resign’ at the final whistle. They sit joint-bottom next to Levante, Real Oviedo and Girona.
