Valencia achieved a valuable 2-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao in a match from the fifth round of La Liga. The success came just days after a heavy 0-6 defeat by Barcelona and returned the "Bats" to the middle of the standings.
The match was equal for a long time, but in the second half the guests were left with a man less after the expulsion of Daniel Vivian. This allowed Valencia to put pressure on and in the final minutes to break the opponent. Baptiste Santamaria opened the scoring in the 73rd minute, and in added time Hugo Duro made the final 2-0.
For Athletic, this was the third consecutive loss in all competitions, after the defeats by Alaves and Arsenal. The team missed a chance to come in second place and even fell outside the zone for European tournaments. In the next round, Valencia visits Espanyol, and the Basques host Girona.