We suffered our first defeat of the season as second-half goals from Vivían and Inaki Williams saw us fall to a 2-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao.
Luis García Plaza made two changes to the side which beat RCD Espanyol 1-0 prior to the international break. Aleksandar Sedlar started at centre back in place of the injured Franco Russo, while Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta was preferred to Salva Sevilla.
Despite a positive start which yielded early opportunities for Take Kubo and Jordi Mboula, the hosts soon hit their stride as Ruiz de Galarreta was forced to make an acrobatic goal line clearance to deny Muniain a tap in.
Athletic Bilbao were getting particular joy down the flank from set-pieces and whipped crosses which forced Manolo Reina into fine saves to deny Muniain and Iñigo Martínez from close range on separate occasions.
While we managed to weather storm and begin to construct some clever moves into the final third, our possession produced few scoring opportunities as we headed into the break goalless.
The second half started at a subdued pace as both sides struggled to test the opposing goalkeepers with sights at goal limited to half chances.
The hosts took the lead in the 68th minute when Vivian found himself unmarked and headed home a whipped free-kick.
Things would go from bad to worse for us five minutes later as Athletic Bilbao’s high press saw Muniain rob the ball in a dangerous position and set Williams up to poke home.
Brian Oliván would come closest to pulling a goal back for us late on, but the hosts never looked like surrendering their lead as we fell to our first defeat of the season.
RCD Mallorca: Manolo Reina, Maffeo, B. Oliván, Sedlar, Valjent (77’), Baba (72’), R. de Galarreta (72’), Dani Rodríguez, Take Kubo (77’), Mboula (72’), Fer Niño
Substitutes: Greif, Gayà, Jaume Costa, Sastre (77’), Kang-In Lee (72’), Battaglia (72’), Antonio Sánchez, Salva Sevilla, Febas (72’), Lago Junior, Abdón (77’), Hoppe
Athletic Club: Unai Simón, Lekue, Vivian, Martínez, Balenziaga, Unai Vencedor (63’), Dani García (73’), Muniain, Berenguer (63’), Raúl García (63’), Williams (83’)
Substitutes: Jokin, Capa, De Marcos, Núñez, Petxa, Zárraga (63’), Vesga (73’), Serrano (83’), Nico Williams (63’), Villalibre (63’), Morcillo
Goals: Vivian, 1-0 (68’); Williams, 2-0 (74’)
