Valencia 0-3 Athletic Bilbao: Gary Neville's side thrashed at the Mestalla

Athletic Bilbao hit three goals in six second-half minutes as they brought Gary Neville's winning run with Valencia to a crashing halt with a 3-0 victory at the Mestalla.

Sabin Merino opened the scoring for Bilbao with 16 minutes of the game remaining, before Iker Muniain and substitute Aritz Aduriz added two more to stun the home side.

The result sees Valencia's four-game winning run come to an end, as they missed out on the chance to climb into the top half of La Liga.

Bilbao, meanwhile, move to seventh as they continue their push to qualify for Europe next season.

Chances in the first half were few and far between, but both sides had a real golden opportunity to take the lead.

First, Alvaro Negredo fired over after 22 minutes while completely unmarked in the box for Valencia, before Muniain bent one wide when he should have hit the target for Bilbao eight minutes later.

It looked like the game would end goalless, until Bilbao struck 16 minutes from time, as Sabin arrived completely unmarked in the Valencia box to head home from Mikel San Jose's pinpoint cross.

And the floodgates swiftly opened as they made it two just three minutes later.

Mikel Rico pounced on Dani Parejo's mistake before charging into the box and feeding it into Muniain, who took a touch and slotted it through the legs of Diego Alves.

Substitute Aduriz then completed the scoring in the 80th minute, rising highest to head home Benat Etxebarria's corner. 

Next up for Neville's Valencia is a midweek trip to Malaga, while Bilbao host Deportivo.