Aritz Aduriz scored a hat-trick as Athletic Bilbao overcame Rayo Vallecano 3-0 in La Liga this evening.
The deadlock was broken immediately after the kickoff when Aduriz received a through-ball and beat Juan Carlos when one on one.
Pablo Hernandez tried to respond in the 12th minute when he volleyed the ball towards the bottom-left corner, but Gorka Iraizoz made the diving save.
Raul Baena gave away a penalty in the 24th minute and Aduriz made no mistake from the spot to double Bilbao's lead.
Roberto Trashorras tried to pull a goal back nine minutes later, but his shot sailed wide of the left post.
Bilbao continued to dominate in the second half and Raul Garcia's shot deflected off the post in the 58th minute.
The third goal did come two minutes later though, when Aduriz finished from close range after Aymeric Laporte's headed pass.
Laporte's match ended four minutes later when he was given a straight red card after taking down Manucho on the edge of the penalty area.
Manucho was close to grabbing a consolation for Rayo with 10 minutes remaining, but his header went narrowly over the crossbar.
In stoppage time, Bebe's cross found Javi Guerra but Iraizoz made the save from point-blank range to protect his clean sheet.
Jonathan McIntosh
