BILBAO, Spain: Kylian Mbappe missed another penalty as champions Real Madrid fell to a 2-1 defeat at Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Wednesday.
A week after the French superstar failed from the spot in the Champions League against Liverpool he endured further misery from 12 yards as Los Blancos allowed league leaders Barcelona to retain their four-point advantage.
Alejandro Berenguer fired Bilbao ahead early in the second half, with Jude Bellingham levelling for Madrid after Mbappe’s penalty miss.
However substitute Gorka Guruzeta snatched fourth-place Athletic victory in the 80th minute after a Fede Valverde mistake.
The defeat and Mbappe’s penalty miss will heap further pressure on to the former Paris Saint-Germain striker’s shoulders after plenty of criticism in recent weeks.
Madrid were hoping to build on three consecutive wins in La Liga, despite missing Vinicius Junior and other injured stars, with coach Carlo Ancelotti bringing French midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni back into the starting line-up.
Thibaut Courtois made an important early intervention to deny Spain winger Nico Williams, with his brother Inaki Williams lurking dangerously.
It was a first half of few clear chances but played with intensity before a packed San Mames stadium.
Mbappe found the net but the goal was ruled out for offside and the referee reviewed a Rodrygo penalty appeal but decided the Brazilian winger went down too easily.
At the other end Berenguer should have put the hosts ahead but blasted high over the bar after Inaki Williams’ clever backheel teed him up.
The forward made amends early in the second half by bundling home from close range after Courtois could only palm an Inaki Williams cross into his path.
Mbappe had the chance to level for Madrid from the spot when Athletic goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala barrelled into Antonio Rudiger.
After missing his penalty against Liverpool, Mbappe agreed to let Jude Bellingham take one against Getafe on Sunday.
However this time the French forward stepped up himself but his weak effort, again to the goalkeeper’s left, was at a comfortable height for Agirrezabala to parry.
Mbappe did play a part in Madrid’s equalizer, though, with a vicious drive from distance that the stopper could only push out into the path of Bellingham, who finished tidily for his fourth goal in his last four league games.
Madrid were only level for two minutes before Bilbao regained the lead through Guruzeta, who stole the ball as Valverde prepared to pass and fired low past Courtois.
Mbappe cut a deflated figure in the final stages, with one attempt to break in down the left quickly shut down by the Athletic defense to raucous cheers from their jubilant supporters.
Barcelona thrashed Mallorca 5-1 on Tuesday to move four points clear of Madrid, who have played one game fewer.
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Thun head Sunday to local rival Young Boys, a 17-time title winner and Champions League regular in recent years, as the current best team in Switzerland.
Following Leicester’s lead
Thun are the latest unheralded European club taking inspiration from Leicester.
Last year, Union Saint-Gilloise won their first Belgian title for 90 years and tiny Mjällby were champion of Sweden for the first time in their 86-year history.
Title races across Europe see Hearts on course for a first Scottish title in 66 years and Paris Saint-Germain being chased by Lens which won their only French title 28 years ago.
The most common link is clubs in provincial towns and cities run on low budgets with a collective team-first ethic.
“You really feel that it’s like a family,” Lustrinelli said last year when extending his contract at the club where he was once a star striker and has coached for four seasons.
Thun’s key players
It took Thun five years to get out of the second division after being relegated in 2020. That period included severe financial issues and being part of a multi-club ownership group backed by American and Chinese investors.
Thun are independent and locally owned again, and built a plan with Lustrinelli for a team playing the direct, pressing style he wants with two central strikers.
Top scorer this season is 12-goal Elmin Rastoder, a Swiss-born North Macedonia international who could feature in the World Cup playoffs against Denmark later this month.
Rastoder’s strike partner Thursday was Brighton Labeau, once a teammate of Kylian Mbappé, who is three years younger, when they were both in the Monaco academy.
Thun’s star prospect is Ethan Meichtry, a Switzerland under-21 midfielder who could yet make the World Cup squad.
Champions League debut
Thun were one of the smallest clubs to play in the Champions League after Lustrinelli’s 20-goal season lifted the team to Swiss league runner-up in 2005.
Thun advanced through two qualifying rounds to reach the elite stage, finishing third in a group behind Arsenal and Ajax.
Back then, Thun played European games at Young Boys’ stadium in Bern because their old home was below UEFA standard.
If Thun enter the Champions League in the second qualifying round in July, home games should be at their 10,000-seat Stockhorn Arena — with artificial turf, just like at Bodø/Glimt inside the Arctic Circle in Norway.
The Swiss champion must win through three qualifying rounds to reach the 36-team league phase.
Home of Swiss soccer
Thun will soon be the home of Switzerland’s soccer federation.
The Swiss Football Home project was approved last August and will include a new headquarters for the federation plus training fields for national teams. Next door will likely be the next Swiss champion.
“The road is still long,” Lustrinelli said of the 10-game run-in, “and we want everyone who will help us get those 30 points.”
Mbappe pays penalty as Bilbao beat Real Madrid
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Mbappe pays penalty as Bilbao beat Real Madrid
- The defeat and Mbappe’s penalty miss will heap further pressure on to the former Paris Saint-Germain striker’s shoulders after plenty of criticism in recent weeks
Like Leicester and Bodø/Glimt, Swiss soccer club Thun set to be historic league champion
- Thun have never won the top-tier league in the club’s 128-year history yet this season has turned the standings into a procession
- Thun are the latest unheralded European club taking inspiration from Leicester
GENEVA: Like Leicester’s Premier League title in 2016 and Bodø/Glimt’s stunning rise in Norway since 2020, Swiss soccer looks set to get its own surprise champion.
Thun have never won the top-tier league in the club’s 128-year history yet this season has turned the standings into a procession — even as a newly promoted club.
A 2-2 draw with second-place St. Gallen late Thursday stopped Thun’s run of 10 straight wins yet coach Mauro Lustrinelli’s team are 14 points clear with 10 rounds left.
“We are also a young team in the sense that the team are experiencing their first Super League,” Lustrinelli told Swiss public broadcaster SRF after his players conceded a stoppage-time goal to drop points for the first time since December.
Thun head Sunday to local rival Young Boys, a 17-time title winner and Champions League regular in recent years, as the current best team in Switzerland.
Following Leicester’s lead
Thun are the latest unheralded European club taking inspiration from Leicester.
Last year, Union Saint-Gilloise won their first Belgian title for 90 years and tiny Mjällby were champion of Sweden for the first time in their 86-year history.
Title races across Europe see Hearts on course for a first Scottish title in 66 years and Paris Saint-Germain being chased by Lens which won their only French title 28 years ago.
The most common link is clubs in provincial towns and cities run on low budgets with a collective team-first ethic.
“You really feel that it’s like a family,” Lustrinelli said last year when extending his contract at the club where he was once a star striker and has coached for four seasons.
Thun’s key players
It took Thun five years to get out of the second division after being relegated in 2020. That period included severe financial issues and being part of a multi-club ownership group backed by American and Chinese investors.
Thun are independent and locally owned again, and built a plan with Lustrinelli for a team playing the direct, pressing style he wants with two central strikers.
Top scorer this season is 12-goal Elmin Rastoder, a Swiss-born North Macedonia international who could feature in the World Cup playoffs against Denmark later this month.
Rastoder’s strike partner Thursday was Brighton Labeau, once a teammate of Kylian Mbappé, who is three years younger, when they were both in the Monaco academy.
Thun’s star prospect is Ethan Meichtry, a Switzerland under-21 midfielder who could yet make the World Cup squad.
Champions League debut
Thun were one of the smallest clubs to play in the Champions League after Lustrinelli’s 20-goal season lifted the team to Swiss league runner-up in 2005.
Thun advanced through two qualifying rounds to reach the elite stage, finishing third in a group behind Arsenal and Ajax.
Back then, Thun played European games at Young Boys’ stadium in Bern because their old home was below UEFA standard.
If Thun enter the Champions League in the second qualifying round in July, home games should be at their 10,000-seat Stockhorn Arena — with artificial turf, just like at Bodø/Glimt inside the Arctic Circle in Norway.
The Swiss champion must win through three qualifying rounds to reach the 36-team league phase.
Home of Swiss soccer
Thun will soon be the home of Switzerland’s soccer federation.
The Swiss Football Home project was approved last August and will include a new headquarters for the federation plus training fields for national teams. Next door will likely be the next Swiss champion.
“The road is still long,” Lustrinelli said of the 10-game run-in, “and we want everyone who will help us get those 30 points.”
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