A 6-1 home slaughter of Almeria Saturday kept AthleticBilbao in fourth place in the Spanish Liga. Bilbao's hero was winger Ibai Gomez, with a handsome brace, dpa reported. Their other goals were scored by Mikel Rico, Ander Herrera, Aymeric Laporteand Aritz Aduriz. Bilbao have won seven and drawn two home games since moving into their new Estadio San Mames in October. They are eight points above third-placed Real Madrid but four above Basque rivals Real Sociedad,who are fifth. Almeria, who seemed to be improving in recent weeks, are 14th. Later Saturday, Valencia were due to visit lowly Celta Vigo, thenAtletico Madrid were to host Barcelona in the long-awaited table-topping clash. Atletico and Barca are level at the top, and therefore the winberwill take the title of "Winter Champions" for being in the lead at the halfway stage of the season.
