Athletic Bilbao defeats Atletico Madrid 3-0 in the Spanish League

The Atletico Madrid team suffered a heavy defeat outside its stadium against its host, Athletic Bilbao, on Saturday, in the fourth round of the Spanish Football League.

Nico Williams scored Bilbao's lead in the 46th minute, then Robert Navarro added the second goal in the 48th minute, and Oihan Sunset completed the hat-trick in the last minute of the match.

This great victory raised Athletic Bilbao's lead to 6 points in seventh place, one point behind Atletico Madrid in sixth place, which is behind Deportivo Alaves in fourth place and Osasuna in fifth place on goal difference.

Atletico Madrid faced a lack of success, as it had the most access to the opponent's goal and the most control and possession, with a ball possession rate of 61 percent, and a passing accuracy of 91 percent, compared to 86 percent for Bilbao.

But the home team was able to decide things in their favor within just two minutes of the start of the second half. After a negative first half, Bilbao succeeded in taking the lead, with a quick attack and a follow-up from Nico Williams on a cross in front of the goal in the 46th minute, giving Bilbao the first goal.

In the 48th minute, just about two minutes after the lead goal, Bilbao increased the score with a second goal through Robert Narvaro, after receiving a pass from Iñaki Williams, to elude the defense and hit a wonderful ball into the far right corner of the Atletico goalkeeper.

Coach Diego Simeone's team rushed towards the attack, looking for a draw or reducing the difference by at least a goal, and the tide of the match gradually turned towards Bilbao's goal, whose defense remained steadfast until the end.

Simeone brought on his Argentine striker, Julián Alvarez, minutes before the end of the match, but the player, who wanted to leave Atleti in the summer, did not add anything new.

The hosts were not satisfied with a two-goal lead, as the last minute brought a third goal, through attacking midfielder Sunset, who took advantage of a quick counterattack and wide spaces in Atletico's defense to follow a ball that bounced off the goalkeeper and defense and into the net.

Bilbao will play the next round at home against Elche next Saturday, while Atletico Madrid will visit Real Sociedad in the same round on Sunday, September 13.

Gianni Infantino, President of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), remained silent about whether he regretted his abandoned proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup, while attending the opening match of the Women’s Under-20 World Cup in the Polish city of Katowice on Saturday.

The tournament is the first competition organized by the International Federation since the Swiss official canceled his plan, which was valuing the commercial rights for the World Cup and the rest of the FIFA tournaments at about $20 billion.

The proposal was abandoned in late July, after strong reactions and threats of boycott from continental federations, including the European Football Association (UEFA), in addition to major parties in the game.

Infantino said during the opening match between host Poland and Argentina: “I am very happy to be here in beautiful Poland, and in Katowice, in a wonderful atmosphere for the U-20 Women’s World Cup. "It's wonderful."

He added: “This is what we do.” “It is about providing opportunities and giving national teams, players and talents from all over the world the opportunity to participate, and increasing the number of participants.”

“Not today...not here.”

Infantino did not answer questions about whether he felt remorse about what happened during the past six weeks.

He said: “You know there is a lot that can be said, and there will be the right place and the right time to talk about it.”

He added: “Not today, and not here.” Today we are here to enjoy football.”

On Thursday, FIFA accused UEFA of waging a “smear campaign,” considering that the European Union’s opposition to the sale plan was motivated by the desire to maintain the dominance of European football.

Infantino attended the match in Katowice, accompanied by a number of senior FIFA officials, including Secretary General Matthias Grafström and Chairman of the Referees Committee Pierluigi Collina.

On the other hand, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin did not attend the match, after he had previously ruled out running in the FIFA presidential elections against Infantino.

Infantino gave a new indication of the possibility of running in the elections for the presidency of the International Federation scheduled for next March, based on the fact that he is best able to continue distributing football revenues more widely to less wealthy countries.

He said: “We continue to work at FIFA in order to give every part of the world an opportunity, make room for them, give them dignity, and find ways and means that help them develop, participate and celebrate football.”

The Elversberg team, newly promoted to the German Football League this season, continued its surprises, achieving its second victory on Saturday in the second round at the expense of its host, Borussia Mönchengladbach, with a score of 4/3.

Elversberg was not content with the valuable victory it achieved in the first round over Bayer Leverkusen 3/2, achieving a new exciting victory over Mönchengladbach.

Hugo Poulin scored the goal that gave Borussia Mönchengladbach the lead, the host and the crowd, in the 11th minute, then David Mokwa equalized in the 29th minute for the visitors.

Hugo Poulin returned to score a second goal for Mönchengladbach in the 44th minute, while Elversberg coach Vincent Wagner received a red card at the end of the first half for dissent.

Joe Scally succeeded in adding the third goal for Borussia in the 56th minute, then Maurice Krattenmacher reduced the gap again in the 66th minute for Elversberg, before Felix Keidel scored the equalizer in the 80th minute.

The visiting team was not satisfied with the valuable point, but Krattenmacher scored the fatal winning goal in the second minute of stoppage time, giving Elversberg victory away from its stadium 4/3.

Elversberg raised its score to 6 points in third place on goal difference, ahead of leaders Freiburg and runner-up Borussia Dortmund, while Borussia Mönchengladbach is at the bottom of the standings with no points.

In another confrontation, Borussia Dortmund overcame a two-goal deficit against its host Hoffenheim to win 3-2 on Saturday, in the second round of the German Football League.

The match, which was held at the Versol Rhein-Neckar Arena, witnessed many fluctuations, as the hosts first took the lead with a goal at the end of the first half, in the 45th minute, through Leon Avdolaho, then Tim Limperle added the second goal in the 54th minute.

Dortmund's uprising began in the 61st minute, when Serho Geraci scored the goal to reduce the deficit for the visitors, and 5 minutes later Fabio Silva equalized for Dortmund, and Hoffenheim defender Alban Hadari added the third goal in his team's goal by mistake in the 86th minute.

This victory raised Dortmund's score to 6 points, in second place on goal difference behind Freiburg, while Hoffenheim remains without points in fifteenth place.