Copa del Rey hero Berenguer signs new contract with Athletic Bilbao
Spanish Copa del Rey winners Athletic Bilbao on Sunday announced Alex Berenguer has signed a new contract that will keep him at the club until June 2027.
Spanish Copa del Rey winners Athletic Bilbao on Sunday announced Alex Berenguer has signed a new contract that will keep him at the club until June 2027.
Athletic Bilbao continued with their policy of tying down key players with the news on Monday that veteran left-back Yuri Berchiche has signed a new one-year contract.
Athletic will miss the pace of winger Nico Williams after his red card against Betis last weekend, although Alex Berenguer has shown he is an able replacement.
The striker, who recently declared internationally for his mother's homeland of Ghana, opened the scoring for Athletic and then missed a penalty, before leaving the pitch early in the second half after being caught on his right ankle in a challenge.
Bilbao striker Raul Garcia scored a brace to give the Basque side a well-deserved, and surprising win, which was only their second game under the new coach Marcelino Garcia Toral.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday Barcelona somehow managed to get full points and dethroned Real Madrid from the top of the points table.
Barcelona controlled the second half better against Athletic Bilbao but created few chances until Ivan Rakitic scored and took them back to the top of La Liga.
When quizzed about the forthcoming La Liga game against Athletic Bilbao, the Real Madrid boss stated that 'Athletic is another difficult opponent'.
Only a stupendous effort by home goalkeeper Jan Oblak kept Athletic from taking the lead in the second minute on a potent header from Inigo Martinez.
Team manager Ernesto Valverde had earlier clarified that they are not willing to take any kind of risk with Lionel Messi and want him to regain complete fitness and be match ready before asking him to don the Barcelona kit.
