Athletic Bilbao, Sporting's next Champions League opponent, lost to Sevilla (2-1)in the 21st round of the Spanish Football League, before hosting the Lions next Wednesday. The Basques recorded their second defeat in a row and the fifth game without winning in the domestic championship, in which they have not yet triumphed in 2026. Peque (42 minutes) and Nigerian Akor Adams (56m), with a penalty, turned around Robert Navarro's opening goal (40m) and returned the Andalusians to victory five days later. The Portuguese Fábio Cardoso was on the bench for Sevilla, who rose to 11th place and reached 24 points from Athletic Bilbao (12th), in a pair provisionally accompanied by Elche (ninth), Real Sociedad (10th) and Girona (13th), with the last two clubs yet to play. The top-5 of the Spanish championship is, for now, closed by Espanyol, with 34 points, after suffering the second consecutive defeat in Valencia (3-2), due to the penalty of the newly entered Belgian Largie Ramazani in added time. The Portuguese André Almeida, a substitute, and Thierry Correia, injured, did not participate in Valencia's second successive victory, 14th, with 23 points. The same cycle is going through Osasuna, who benefited from an own goal from the Dutch Jozhua Vertrouwd and a goal from Asier Osambela in stoppage time to beat Rayo Vallecano (3-1) and rise to eighth position, with 25 points. The team from the outskirts of Madrid is 15th and has 22 points, three above the relegation zone, formed by Alavés, Levante and Oviedo, all with less than one game, despite the Valencians, coached by the Portuguese Luís Castro, having won their debut at home against Elche (3-2), on Friday, at the start of the round.