BARCELONA: Inaki Williams fired Athletic Bilbao to a 1-0 home win over Las Palmas in La Liga on Wednesday to strengthen their chances of direct qualification for next season’s Champions League.
The Basque side sit fourth with five games to go, eight points clear of fifth-placed Villarreal who suffered a 3-0 defeat at Celta Vigo, also on Wednesday.
Bilbao also have a Europa League semifinal against Manchester United to come, and should they win that they will play the final in their home stadium.
Five La Liga sides qualify for the Champions League this season. Sixth-placed Betis are a point behind Villarreal ahead of their encounter with rock-bottom Valladolid on Thursday.
A fifth-minute goal from the elder Williams brother after he turned a defender in the box and side-footed home with the outside of his boot was enough for all three points.
Bilbao needed two sharp saves from Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon before half-time as relegation-threatened Las Palmas went down fighting.
Barcelona inched closer to the title with a 1-0 win over Mallorca on Tuesday which took them seven points clear of Real Madrid, who play Getafe away later Wednesday.
Bilbao edge Las Palmas to close on Champions League qualification
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Bilbao edge Las Palmas to close on Champions League qualification
- The Basque side sit fourth with five games to go
- Bilbao also have a Europa League semifinal against Manchester United to come
Sixth Dakar Rally win for Al-Attiyah as Benavides triumphs on two wheels
Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah won the Dakar Rally for the sixth time in the car category on Saturday as Argentina’s Luciano Benavides won by two seconds on two wheels, the narrowest margin ever.
Al-Attiyah, with Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin, had led overnight after taking his 50th career stage win and made no mistakes as he handed Dacia a first victory at their second attempt in the two-week event held entirely in Saudi Arabia.
The 55-year-old Qatari also won in 2011, 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Ford’s Nani Roma finished second, nine minutes and 42 seconds behind, and teammate Mattias Ekstrom was third after winning the final stage.
Last year’s winner Yazeed Al-Rajhi of Saudi Arabia withdrew in the opening week after mechanical problems.
Benavides had earlier taken the motorcycle title after American Ricky Brabec lost his way and saw victory slip through his fingers.
The KTM rider, whose older brother Kevin won the Dakar in 2021 and 2023, came home second in the 105-km stage in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, with Honda’s overnight leader Brabec 10th.
In a grueling endurance event spanning two weeks and 8,000km over rocky roads, through canyons and vast expanses of desert dunes, twice winner Brabec blew his chances with only a few kilometers remaining.
Spaniard Tosha Schareina finished third overall for Honda.
“From the start to the finish I never stopped dreaming, I never stopped believing,” said Benavides, who had trailed Brabec by three minutes and 20 seconds after Friday’s penultimate stage.
“I said to all my people around ‘I don’t know why but I still feel it’s possible, I still believe I can win and it’s going to go my way’.
“In the last three kilometers, Ricky took a wrong piste and I took a good one... I just saw the opportunity and I took it.”
American Skyler Howes was fourth overall for Honda, ahead of Australia’s 2025 champion Daniel Sanders on a KTM.
Sanders crashed on stage 10 but refused to retire and raced on despite a suspected broken collarbone.
