Granada make strong start to season with victory over Athletic

Granada beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 at home on Saturday on the opening day of the La Liga season, beginning the new campaign as they had ended the last.

Venezuelan midfielder Yangel Herrera put Granada ahead early in the second half with a glancing header before Luis Milla doubled their advantage with a thumping effort from outside the area.

Athletic's star man Inaki Williams was surprisingly left out of the starting line-up by coach Gaizka Garitano but the forward came closest to scoring for the visitors when he did come off the bench, striking the bar with a shot with his knee.

Granada had thrashed Athletic 4-0 at home in their final game of last season to finish seventh in the standings and qualify for European competition for the first time in their history.

The match was supposed to be the league's opening game on Friday but less than 48 hours before kick off it was switched to Saturday after the Spanish soccer federation ruled matches could not be played on Fridays or Mondays.

Eibar draw 0-0 at home to Celta Vigo in the first game of the season earlier on Saturday.

Former Atletico Madrid and Spain forward Adrian Lopez fired Osasuna into the lead in the 10th minute at Cadiz while Ruben Garcia sealed the victory in the 79th, spinning away from a defender and smashing a bouncing cross high into the net.