Four games played tonight of the SPANISH CUP with its traditionaldosis of surprise results.ATHLETIC DE BILBAO drew 2-2 against 2ºDivision team RAYOVALLECANO but were eliminated on aggregate. FERNANDO LLORENTE scored first for Bilbao in the 41st min, but Rayo stoodfirm in the "Lions den" to equalize via COLLANTES in the 72nd min. Click to continue reading...

Athletic Bilbao have enjoyed a notable start to the season, sitting in eighth place in La Liga following the weekend's 2-2 draw away at Real Valladolid, as Joaquin Caparros has led the team to one of their brighter La Liga starts in recent years.

Caparros, who made his name as Sevilla manager, has constructed a team that is certainly not lacking in quality.

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Lionel Messi

It has been claimed many times by many different people, Messi is quite simply "the man" as we say here in the states. Messi continues to fuel Barca's ridiculous offense and who knows maybe the club can potentially win the treble two straight seasons even though it had never been done by any La Liga squad ever before last season.

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Villarreal found out just how imposing Athletic Bilbao and their in-form forward can be at San Mamés on Sunday.
'Hurricane' Athletic blowing hot with Fernando Llorente flying high. Click to continue reading...

I'm happy to be starting the "Weekend Recap" section again. I apologize for missing the first few weeks but now that all the leagues are off and running I will be recapping the top leagues in Europe after every weekend.

This weekend we saw goals, in twos.

La Liga:

After this weekend there are still three unbeaten sides in Spain.

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Pictures of famous Athletic Bilbao players at San Mamés. Photo courtesy of Nicholas McGowan.

Athletic Bilbao would have no problems with the proposed UEFA plan of mandating eight homegrown players in the squad of eighteen for every match or the theoretical 6 + 5 rule, where six players of the starting eleven would have to be eligible for the national team of their club's country.

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Last season, the roar from the Cathedral was loud for three quarters of the season. Athletic were en route to European spots as San Mamés became and impenetrable fortress.
Then the gas ran out and the team's focus became the Copa del Rey. You can say whatever you might want; that Joaquín Caparros' team was limited to begin with, that their unique policy of only signing Basque players is outdated, or whatever. Click to continue reading...

Gallery, images, photos and pictures of Athletic Club de Bilbao v FC Barcelona, Spanish Supercup, Round 1, the 16th of August.

Includes Fernando Llorente, Aitor Ocio, Xavi Hernandez, Pedro, Thierry Henry and Dani Alves.

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ATHLETIC DE BILBAO managed to pull back a 0-1 first round result& defeat YOUNG BOYS ( Switzerland) 1-2 in the second leg gameyesterday to go into the 2º round of the preliminaries of theEUROPA LEAGUE ( ex UEFA). Goals came from FERNANDO LLORENTE& 16 year old sensation MUNIAN for Bilbao & FRIMPONG for YoungBoys. Click to continue reading...

Athletic Bilbao avoided an embarrassing Europa League exit at the hands of Swiss side Young Boys tonight as they sneaked into the play-off round on away goals.

The Spanish cup finalists lost the first leg of their third qualifying round tie 1-0 last week but goals from Fernando Llorente and Iker Muniain put them on course in Berne.

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The UEFA Europa League finished up its qualifying round on Thursday with the second legs of each tie. Overall there were several matches and over 30 teams advancing to the next round. Here's a recap of some of the matches including Fulham v Vetra, Hamburg v Randers, Roma v KAA Gent, PSV v Cherno and Athletic Bilbao v Young Boys.

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News from Spanish daily "AS" brings our attention to a supposed15M€ offer by English Premier League Club TOTTENHAM HOTSPURSto ATHLETIC DE BILBAO for its star forward FERNANDO LLORENTE.The English Club has Roman Pavyluchenko on the market & believethat the Spanish International is the new man they are looking for to fill the gap. Click to continue reading...

Better than Brazil?

Spain set a world record of 15 consecutive wins after beating South Africa 2-0 to reach the Confederations Cup semis.

Their latest victory means Spain have equalled Brazils all time record of 35 matches without defeat, (1993 and 1996). But are they better than that Brazilian team?

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Group A
Spain 2 South Africa 0
Mangaung/Bloemfontein
Hosts South Africa needed a draw against Spain last night to progress to the semi-finals, but in the end even that wasn't necessary. With Iraq and New Zealand playing out a goalless draw at the same time in Johannesburg, South Africa could afford their defeat at the hands of the European champions. Click to continue reading...

Tonight's games from the Confederations Cup wrapped up Group A, as Spain took on hosts South Africa and Iraq took on New Zealand.
Goals from David Villa and Fernando Llorente gave European Champions Spain a record 15th victory over Confederation Cup hosts South Africa.
It did not bode well for the Spaniards, when Villa missed a second half penalty, but recovered his composure a minute later, angling a shot past Itumeleng Khune and celebrating by kicking the hell out of a corner flag. Click to continue reading...

Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein: Scorers: David Villa 52, Fernando Llorente 72 Missed penalty: David Villa 51 Halftime: 0-0; Attendance: 38,212 Teams South Africa: 16-Itumeleng Khune; 2-Siboniso Gaxa, 4-Aaron Mokoena, 14-Matthew Booth, 3-Tsepo Masilela; 10-Steven Pienaar, 6-MacBeth Sibaya (21-Katlego Mashego 83), 13-Kagisho Dikgacoi, 5-Benson Mhlongo, 12-Teko Modise; 17-Bernard Parker (8-Siphiwe Tshabalala 90+2). Click to continue reading...

The FIFA Confederations Cup is a tournament for national teams, currently held every four years by FIFA. It is contested by the winners of each of the six FIFA confederation championships (CAF, CONMEBOL, UEFA, AFC, OFC, CONCACAF), along with the FIFA World Cup winner and the host country.
This year, the Confed Cup will be held in South Africa - sort of a sneak preview of what's to come in the soon approaching 2010 World Cup Finals. Click to continue reading...

Man City have denied making a €150m bid to for one Lionel Messi, activating his buyout clause. A bid which wouldn't bat a solitary eye. You know...no one's actually supposed to be able to use those clauses. They're strictly prohibitive measures. Barcelona will supposedly raid London, bringing Cesc back home and extraditing Ashley Cole. Click to continue reading...

"We are going to surprise Barcelona and we are going to win this final." This confident statement wasn't from the mouth of a drunk Basque fisherman in a Bilbao bar. Or one of the 20,000 fans who watched their teams final training session at San Mames. It was spouted by in form Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente.

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Athletic Bilbao and FC Barcelona are the two clubs which can boast of maximum Copa Del Rey victory in the history of the tournament. FC Barcelona has won the cup 24 times whereas Athletic lies just behind with 23 victories. For FC Barcelona there inability to close out La Liga last week means this is their chance to win the first silverware of this season. Click to continue reading...

Midweek fixtures gave La Liga a very Copa Libertadores-like schedule as Spain's stars continue to make their moves towards either a championship, UEFA competition spot, or another season in La Liga De Estrellas. The drama began on Tuesday when Real Madrid looked beaten against Getafe down 2-1 and a man down after Pepe's well-deserved red card.

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Real Madrid struck twice in the final four minutes to defeat city rivals Getafe 3-2 at the Santiago Bernabéu and reduce Barcelona's Liga lead to three points.

It was the visitors, however, who took the lead after ten minutes when two former Madrid players combined. Esteban Granero cut inside Fabio Cannavaro and crossed for Roberto Soldado to head past Iker Casillas but, in added time at the end of the first half, the hosts restored parity, Gonzalo Higuaín outmuscling Daniel Díaz to bundle the ball in.

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The Champions League gets the pub and the UEFA Cup the scraps, but domestic cup competitions, often seen as mere afterthoughts, provide some of the best action around. Big clubs send out watered down teams and little clubs send out eleven of their finest playing as though it's a Champions League final - mostly because [. Click to continue reading...