Athletic Bilbao lost further land on the early leaders in Laliga after losing 2-0 to Valencia in the Estadio de Mestalla.
Although they were at the top in the first half, a straight red card for Dani Vivian in the 61st minute before refusing a clear opportunity for goal has completely reversed the momentum in the match in favor of Valencia.
The broadcast saw Aymeric Laporte make his second debut for Athletic, but he could not stop the approaching attack with Valencia.
He initially ran the strike of Largie Ramazani behind a corner, but Baptiste Santamaria managed to score a header from the resulting corner in the 73rd minute.
Santamaria then became the provider in the third minute of the stopping time when Hugo Duro insured all three points for the hosts, who bounced back from their 6-0 defeat to Barcelona in style.
That was epic pic.twitter.com/td081c6lep
– Valencia CF (@Valenciacf) September 20, 2025
In the meantime, Girona remains at the bottom of the competition after they had been reduced to nine men in their 4-0 defeat at home against Levante.
In a match that saw five yellow cards in the first half, two of which went to Axel Witsel before half an hour, resulting in his shipment, Etta Eyong gave the visitors the lead two minutes before the break.
It was a nightmare start of the second half for Girona after Vitor Reis was shown a straight red card in the opening minute for a reckless challenge on Carlos Alvarez, where the Levante Forward also scored from the resulting free kick.
Ivan Romero then scored his third goal of the season in the 70th minute before Godaine Koyalipou closed the score in the second minute of Extra Time with his very first LaLala goal.
Elsewhere, Sevilla expanded their undefeated run to three games after they defeated Alaves 2-1, thanks to goals from Ruben Vargas and Alexis Sanchez.
Vargas placed the visitors in the lead after just 10 minutes, but Carlos Vicente is immediately out of the spot seven minutes later.
Sanchez then scored the winner in the 67th minute and since 2000 became the third oldest scorer for Sevilla in the competition (36 years and 275 days).
36 – oldest players to score @Sevillafc_eng in @Lala In the 21st century:
1. Jesús Navas – 38 years and 298 days
2. Sergio Ramos – 38 years and 0 days
3. Alexis Sánchez – 36 years and 275 days
4. Ivan Rakitic – 35 years and 247 daysEndless. pic.twitter.com/gakbbes2lu
– Optajose (@Optajose) September 20, 2025
Villarreal went to third place in the competition after he came from behind to beat 10-man Osasuna 2-1 at home.
Osasuna soon took a surprise lead after the 40th minute red card by Valetin Rosier when Ante Budimir converted from the penalty place in the sixth minute of the first half of the stop time.
Second half of Georges Mikautadze and Pape Gueye, however, Villarreal held Real Madrid within five points.
Data debrief: Santamaria Joy at the Mestalla
Although Athletic has removed the red card from them, credit has to go to Valencia for the way in which they insist on the victory.
Valencia only created 0.03 expected goals (XG) of one off-target shot in the first half, but ended the match with 1.99 XG of 13 attempts.
Santamaria became the first foreign player to score and offered an assist in a single LaLiga match for Valencia since Goncalo Guedes in December 2021 Guedes (two goals and one assist against Levante).
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