Trouble-torn Real Madrid slumped to their second defeat in three Spanish Primera Liga games when they lost 2-1 to a classy Athletic Bilbao side on Saturday.

Athletic, without a win in their previous four matches, dominated at a packed San Mames, out-playing their bemused opponents who again struggled to find any fluency.

Goals from centre-forward Ismael Urzaiz and midfielder Santi Ezquerro gave the Basques a deserved 2-0 lead at halftime and although Raul pulled one back for Real soon after the break, the visitors never really threatened to stage a comeback.

Deportivo Coruna went some way to erasing the memory of their 5-1 thrashing by champions Valencia on Wednesday when they came from a goal down to earn a 1-1 home draw with Real Betis in Saturday's late match.

Earlier, Atletico Madrid bounced back from a midweek defeat at Levante to claim a 1-0 home win over Villarreal thanks to a bullet header from striker Salva Ballesta.

Atletico joined Valencia and Barcelona on 10 points at the top of the standings. Real are a point behind.

Valencia and Barcelona will have a chance to open up a gap when they play Racing Santander and Real Mallorca on Sunday.

Athletic made a whirlwind start in front of their home crowd, mesmerising an out-of-sorts Real with their slick passing in midfield and pacy attacks on the wings.

The Basque side issued an early warning when keeper Iker Casillas made a brave save to stop Urzaiz converting a fine cross from youngster Andoni Iraola, who had skipped past Raul Bravo on the right.

Bravo was in the side after new coach Mariano Garcia Remon decided to rest first choice left back Roberto Carlos, but his gamble failed as the Spaniard proved incapable of coping with the inspired Athletic forwards.

EXPOSED IN DEFENCE

Five minutes later Real fell a goal behind after they were again exposed in defence.

Defender Asier del Horno swung in a cross from the left and Urzaiz made the most of more slack marking from Bravo to drift towards the far post where he controlled the ball with his right foot and cracked it home with his left.

Without the injured Zinedine Zidane, Real looked rudderless in midfield as David Beckham and Albert Celades struggled to stem their opponents' attacks and to supply their own strikers.

In desperation, Ronaldo and Luis Figo resorted to long-range shots which failed to trouble keeper Daniel Aranzubia. It came as no surprise then when Athletic extended their lead on the stroke of halftime, Del Horno producing another great cross and Ezquerro getting in front of Bravo to head past Casillas.

Real were thrown a lifeline at the start of the second half when Raul scored his first league goal since notching a double in a 4-2 defeat at the same ground six months ago, curling the ball in after a neat backheeled pass from Guti.

Garcia Remon replaced Beckham and Bravo with Roberto Carlos and Fernando Morientes on the hour, but his changes produced little improvement and it was Athletic who continued to dominate and had little difficulty securing their first win of the season.