Levante near salvation with victory over Athletic

MADRID: With two free-kick goals by the same player from nearly the same spot only two minutes apart, Levante came from behind to beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 and move a step closer to avoiding relegation in the La Liga.

Macedonian midfielder Enis Bardhi scored from eerily similar free-kicks in the 42nd and 44th minutes and Jose Luis Morales capped Levante’s victory in the final minutes after a superb run from his own half.

It was the fifth win in the last seven matches for the club from Valencia, who opened a nine-point gap to Clarence Seedorf’s Deportivo, the first team inside the relegation zone. There are four rounds left.

“These are the most important points we have earned,” Bardhi said.

“We played a great away match. I’m happy for my goals but especially for the three points.”

Another three points should be enough to clear Levante from demotion as Deportivo would have to win all of their matches and make up a 16-goal difference to be able to earn the tie-break advantage over Levante.

Las Palmas and Malaga have already been relegated.

Raul Garcia opened the scoring for the hosts with a spectacular longrange shot into the top corner in the eighth minute at San Mames Stadium.

Bardhi equalised with his first freekick by curling the ball around the wall and into the near corner.

Athletic goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga got to the ball but it had already crossed the line.

Arrizabalaga only watched when Bardhi struck again two minutes later with an incredibly similar shot on a free-kick only a few yards back from the first one.

Morales sealed the victory when he got past two Athletic players after picking up the ball in the defence, then cleared two other defenders with a nice cutback move inside the area before finishing with a chip shot over Arrizabalaga.

Athletic, who dropped to 14th in the 20-team standings, have not won for three straight matches, but they were coming off a 1-1 draw against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

“We haven’t been playing our best,” Garcia said.

“That’s why we are in this situation.” — AP