Athletic Bilbao end dismal start, Celta and Eibar held

Madrid: Athletic Bilbao ended a dismal run of two defeats in their opening two games when Aritz Aduriz struck twice and Raul Garcia scored on his debut to help the Basque club to a 3-1 victory over Getafe in La Liga on Sunday.

Striker Aduriz opened the scoring in the sixth minute at the San Mames with a trademark header before midfielder Garcia, who joined from Atletico Madrid last month, nodded in a second in the 24th minute.

Emiliano Velazquez pulled back a goal for the visitors in the 70th minute before Aduriz steered in his second seven minutes from time.

"The important thing is that the team won," Garcia told Spanish television.

"I am happy with the goal but more so because of the victory," added the 29-year-old, who played a key role in Atletico`s resurgence in recent years.

Lionel Messi came off the bench to earn champions Barcelona a 2-1 victory at Atletico Madrid on Saturday while Cristiano Ronaldo hit five goals in a 6-0 romp at Espanyol to become Real Madrid`s record La Liga scorer.

Barca`s victory preserved their perfect start to the season and they lead on a maximum nine points from three matches, three ahead of 2013-14 champions Atletico who are sixth.

Real have seven points in second place after Ronaldo took his tally in Spain`s top flight to 230, overtaking former Real striker Raul`s total of 228.

Villarreal, who like Bilbao are competing in this season`s Europa League, and Celta Vigo also have seven points after Villarreal won 3-1 at Granada and Celta squandered a 3-1 advantage to draw 3-3 at home to 10-man Las Palmas on Sunday.

Las Palmas goalkeeper Javi Varas was shown a straight red card in only the 11th minute at Celta`s Balaidos stadium but the promoted visitors nonetheless recovered to claim a point.

Villarreal and Celta were joined on seven points by lowly Basque club Eibar, who missed a chance to make it three wins out of three when they were held to a 0-0 draw at Malaga.